BJP mounts offensive against PM

The Opposition BJP on Tuesday launched a broadside against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Charging the UPA Government with failure on all fronts in its two year tenure, the Opposition BJP on Tuesday launched a broadside against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying he has become an "object of pity and sympathy" who can "easily be pushed around".

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"The office of the Prime Minister is the nucleus of India's power. The UPA, however, has evolved a modus of functioning by which the Prime Minister can be stripped of authority. He is not free to choose his cabinet. He is not free to dictate the policies of his Government.

"He is now subservient to non-accountable institutions such as Chairman of the National Advisory Council. The Prime Minister holds office but is not in power. Nor is he perceived to be. The Prime Minister is not held in awe or admiration. He is an object of pity and sympathy. Never before has the office of the Prime Minister been so deliberately denigrated," said a draft political resolution discussed on the concluding day of the party's national executive meeting in New Delhi.

The resolution, moved by party General Secretary Arun Jaitley, alleged that the dilution of Prime Ministerial authority has been compounded by the mushrooming of numerous power centres outside the Government.

"Alliance partners have also realised that the Prime Minister can easily be pushed around," it said.

The saffron party had earlier described Manmohan Singh as the "weakest Prime Minister ever".