BJP not interested in bringing Manmohan Singh down: Venkaiah Naidu

Accusing the UPA government of being responsible for the stalemate in Parliament, BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu Saturday said his party was not interested in bringing down the Manmohan Singh ministry and only wanted to force it to withdraw its decision allowing FDI retail.

"Our effort is not to bring down the government but to force it to roll back the decision on FDI in retail trade," he told reporters in Chennai.

"There is no question of opposition relenting on this. We want a debate on the issue through an adjournment motion with voting. If the government has sufficient numbers, why should oppose the motion with voting? Is it an open admission that it does not have sufficient numbers?' he said.

Naidu charged the UPA government with being responsible for the present logjam in Parliament on FDI in retail issue. "We want a debate in Parliament on the issue. Why is the government afraid of it?' he added.

The Centre's decision was being opposed by DMK and Trinamool Congress, key constituents of UPA, besides BSP and Samjawadi party, extending outside support to it, he said.

"This is an acid test for all these parties, particularly for the parties which are under pressure from the Prime Minister to revise their stand", he said referring to Singh reaching out to DMK and TMC to support the decision on FDI.

He alleged the Centre had unilaterally decided to allow FDI in multi-brand retail trade only to divert the people's attention from various scams, price rise, its 'inability' to unearth black money and inflation.