LK Advani criticizes PM for naming two no-2 ministers

Bhubaneswar: Senior BJP leader LK Advani on Monday criticized Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for directing that either finance minister Pranab Mukherjee or home minister P Chidambaram should remain in Delhi to look after the day-to-day affairs of the government in his absence.

“As per practice, the Prime Minister can appoint one or two deputy Prime Ministers to assist him. But there cannot be two Number-2 ministers. Until today, we knew that Pranab Mukherjee was the No. 2 minister in the UPA government. But, as media reports suggest, Mr Singh’s strange decision is aimed at demolishing the powers of the No. 2 minister Mr Mukherjee,” Mr Advani said while addressing a press conference at Sambalpur.

The BJP veteran said by nominating Mr Chidambaram as one of the No. 2 ministers, the PM wanted to “thwart the ongoing probe into the 2G spectrum scam in which the latter is said to be involved.”

Taking a dig at the ruling UPA, Mr Advani said the Central government suffered problem the problem anarchy and chaos. “Anarchy and chaos has plagued the UPA government. It is in a state of paralysis. It cannot take decisions on its own. In Telengana issue, it sought two months time to take a decision, thus allowing the agitation to continue and young people committing suicide for the cause,” he observed.

Stating that the UPA government was continuously “disregarding” the federal structure of the country, the BJP veteran said the Central government had no right to discriminate a state basing on the “complex” of the government.

Claiming that his current yatra had garnered bigger public response than his previous five yatras, Mr Advani said failure of the UPA government in governance and bring back black money stashed away in foreign banks were the reasons for the people’s massive support.

The BJP leader, as usual, appeared reticent on the ruling BJD in Orissa. “I do not want to comment on any state government or chief minister. As regards Orissa, he (chief minister Naveen Patnaik) broke the ties with us without any information. However, I believe our state leaders are unsparing about the government here. I will not prevent them from doing so,” he observed.

Asked if there is possibility of the BJP enrolling the BJD into the NDA fold, Mr Advani said, “I am not ruling out anything. But, as I understand, the relationship between the two is very much tense here.”

Later, addressing public rallies at Angul and Dhenkanal, Mr Advani condemned the UPA government's failure to control prices of essential commodities and handle the terrorism issue.