Just asking legitimate questions, says BJP on barbs against PM

Criticised by Congress for its attacks on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, BJP today hit back saying it had the right to raise "legitimate" questions to him on why "he did not stop" a minister from defying his mandate and swindling public money.

Rebutting the charge that the opposition party was using "intemperate language" against the prime minister which showed its "arrogance", BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Congress was using the "language of irritation".

"Infact, the copybook case of arrogance is the comment of home minister P Chidambaram that NDA will not come back to power for the next ten years. This inspite of the severe drubbing the Congress has received in the recent elections in Bihar," Prasad told PTI.

He alleged that "an increasingly desperate Congress is talking the language of irritation.

"It is the right of opposition in a democracy to ask questions about the omissions and commissions of the government," BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said reacting to comments of telecom minister Kapil Sibal yesterday that the opposition attack on the prime minister for not agreeing to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) in the second-generation mobile telephony spectrum issue showed its arrogance.

He said that "on November 2, 2007, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had written to A Raja, the then telecom minister to ensure fairness and transparency in the allocation of mobile licensing."

Raja replied to this letter saying he has to take "pre-emptive and pro-active decisions" to avoid any further confusions, Prasad claimed. The prime minister had written back to Raja on January 3, 2008 that he had received his letter, the BJP leader said.

"The opposition is entitled to ask the prime minister that when Raja was defying his mandate, why did he not act and stop him from taking any further decisions. Why did the prime minister permit the swindling of public money by the minister?" Prasad said.

He maintained that these were "legitimate questions" being raised by the opposition and "there is nothing arrogant about it".

The senior BJP leader added that Congress should prepare itself for the inevitable - "people's disillusionment with it".

Addressing the Congress plenary over the weeked, party president Sonia Gandhi had termed as "downright despicable" the opposition BJP"s attack on Prime Minister Singh.

"He (Singh) is the embodiment of sobriety, dignity and integrity. The BJP's personal attack on him is downright despicable," she had said.