BJP says PM has admitted failure; warns of Egypt-like situation

The BJP today said by admitting that corruption and inflation were a problem, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has accepted the opposition charge of his failure on these fronts and cautioned that if timely action was not taken India may soon witness an Egypt-like agitation.

"We appreciate and understand the agony of the prime minister expressed in his speech at the conference of Chief Secretaries. Perhaps he forgot that he is the ruler and not a leader of the opposition. Whom was he expressing this pain and anguish to?" BJP spokesperson Tarun Vijay said.

He contended that by accepting that inflation and corruption were a problem, the "Chief Executive (PM)" has accepted the charges levelled against him by the BJP and the opposition.

"Was he talking to people from Mars or Saturn? Or to the people of India? An acceptance or an apology for not being able to do what the people had expected of him in the last six and a half years. A lame duck excuse for doing nothing for the issues that he raised- corruption, inflation," Vijay said.

He alleged that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was acting as a "super prime minister" and should also be held responsible for the state of affairs.

Vijay maintained that corruption and inflation were not a gift from some "extra-terrestrial people.

"This is a creation of the Manmohan Singh government. Dr Manmohan Singh's governance, being controlled by Sonia Gandhi, will be known in history which created a situation when the wealth of India was looted more than what the British did to us," Vijay said.

He insisted that the prime minister's "anguish" makes no sense now.

"For the first time he has accepted that there is corruption and the people are very, very angry with this kind of governance. The time will not be very far when angry, frustrated and driven to the wall, the people of India would create a bigger and more aggressive agitation against the desi Hosni Mubarak's than what we see in Cairo today," Vijay said.