BJP chief defends Advani over downgrading Modi

Maintaining that L K Advani was not against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Rajnath Singh on Monday said Advan’s statement was misquoted in the media when he praised Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

 It was wrongly interpreted in such a way that Modi was belittled by praising Chouhan by Advani, he said.

Addressing a media conference in Hyderabad on Monday, Rajnath Singh said the UPA government had been failed on all fronts. He said the Centre became weak in defence and foreign affairs and relations with neighbouring countries had been affected badly and the nation was in a situation where it remained silent despite the Chinese troops entered into its territory, he said and added that Pak soldiers beheaded two Indian soldiers, but the UPA government just ignored it.       

Observing that the BJP is in favour of passing the Food Security Bill with some amendments, the BJP national president asked the government to advance the monsoon session of Parliament for the purpose. We are ready for a debate on Food Security and Land Acquisition bills. We want these bills passed with some amendments. The monsoon session should be advanced for this, Rajnath said. 

He said it would be a cruel joke, if an Ordinance is issued on the proposed Food Security Bill. The two bills would have been passed in the last session of Parliament had the UPA government accepted the resignations of Law and Railway Ministers (Ashwin Kumar and Pawan Kumar Bansal), as sought by the BJP then. Dismissing the allegations of the Congress' that the BJP is not letting the Parliament function smoothly, Singh said the primary responsibility to ensure the smooth functioning of the Parliament lay with the government.

 Observing that BJP's role is like that of a watchdog, he said the BJP was playing the role of the principal opposition party effectively. Noting that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is an extremely popular leader in the country, he said the issue of BJP's prime ministerial candidate would be decided by the party's parliamentary board. 

To a query about Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh's reported remarks that there is a cold war within the BJP, he replied in the negative and said that a cold war actually existed in the Congress. 

Blames Cong on Telangana

Rajnath Singh said the UPA government failed to fulfil its election promise on Telangana. He underscored the need for separate state for Telangana. He said the Centre did not try to put an end to Maoist problem. Instead, it was throwing the blame on the States. Rajnath Singh was accompanied by senior BJP leaders M Venkaiah Naidu, Bandaru Dattathreya and State BJP unit president Kishan Reddy.

-Hyderabad, PTI