New Delhi:
Moments after a major showdown with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament over the country's economic crisis, the BJP today said the only way out of the current turmoil was to hold national elections along with state polls due in the next three months and give people a chance to elect a new government.
"The only solution is to hold elections in 2013. If people are given a fresh opportunity to select a new government, it would be in the best interest of the country, "senior BJP leader LK Advani said (Read:
BJP's memorandum to the President).
Mr Advani led a BJP delegation to meet President Pranab Mukherjee this afternoon, shortly after a huge row erupted in Parliament over the PM's statement on the economic crisis and falling rupee.
The BJP's memorandum to the president said: "The country can ill afford at this moment of crisis a government which is paralysed, a Prime Minister who never speaks, a Finance Minister who wrongly blames his immediate predecessor - who cannot defend himself - a supreme leader who does not care about where money will come from and a bureaucracy that is frozen and unable to act.
"We advise you to end the current uncertainty by advising this government to seek a fresh mandate at the earliest and not later than state elections due in the next three months."
The national elections are due in May next year.
Earlier in Parliament, an unusually aggressive PM and BJP leader Arun Jaitley exchanged sharp words.
"Have you heard of any country where MPs shout and walk to the well of the House and say 'Prime Minister chor hai (the PM is a crook)," the PM asked after his speech on the economic crisis was derided by Mr Jaitley, the Leader of the Opposition. "Despite what some members may say, I do command a certain respect in the council of ministers," the Prime Minister said.
Mr Jaitley responded sharply, "Have you heard of any democracy where PM won a vote of confidence by buying members of parliament?"