New Delhi:
The BJP today said that at his press conference today, the Prime Minister "manufactured a new logic" in offering poor excuses for leading a corrupt government.
At his interaction with reporters, the first in over three years, Dr Manmohan Singh announced that even if the coalition that is led by his party is re-elected for a third term, he will not return to office.
(Highlights of PM's presser)At the press conference, the Prime Minister responded to charges that a torrent of mega-scams have unfolded during his two back-to-back terms as head of the government. Dr Singh said these scams- including the problematic allocation of telecom and mining licenses - dated to the first term of his coalition, the UPA 1. He said that in 2009, the same coalition was re-elected, indicating that the people had given it an all-clear.
(Watch the PM's interaction with media) | (
Rate his answers here)The BJP's Arun Jaitley said it was amazing that the Prime Minister's explanation was "that corruption was during UPA 1 and he was re-elected so people don't blame it for graft." Mr Jaitley said this is the first time that a Prime Minister has cited "electoral sanction to a corrupt government to wipe out the allegation of a corrupt government."
The main opposition party also took on the PM for describing its prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, as "someone who has presided over the mass massacre of citizens on the streets of Ahmedabad." "Such a comment is laughable," said BJP chief Rajnath Singh. The party's top leaders stressed that an investigation ordered by the Supreme Court has cleared Mr Modi of allegations of complicity in the Gujarat riots in 2002, which took place during his first term as chief minister.
The findings of that investigation were upheld last week by a court in Gujarat which ruled that Mr Modi will not be prosecuted for allegedly fanning the communal violence in which more than 1,000 people were killed.