NDA rejects PM's appeal on boycott

It has termed Manmohan's appeal to end boycott as an 'insult to injury'.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Friday expressed disappointment over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, saying it amounted to adding "insult to injury" and decided to continue with its boycott of Parliament.

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After an impromptu meeting chaired by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh told reporters that the Opposition alliance has "serious objection to the "tone, tenor and content" of what the prime minister had said.

Another BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said the Prime Minister's statement reflected that the Government did not want the Opposition.

Jaswant Singh said the NDA meeting, called to discuss the prime minister's statement and attended by its Convenor George Fernandes, BJP President LK Advani and other senior BJP leaders took "serious consideration of this kind of attitude", which made it difficult for the Opposition to cooperate with the Government.

Referring to the prime minister's statement regarding the NDA on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's meeting with Vajpayee, the BJP leader said Manmohan Singh was off the mark. He said the NDA memorandum submitted to President APJ Abdul Kalam said "it is reported" that there was an attempt to prevent Musharraf's meeting with Vajpayee and was not attributable to the Opposition alliance.

"Till yesterday, nobody rebutted, or refuted or countered this report," the BJP leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said and termed the prime minister's remarks in this regard as "deeply offensive" and "not acceptable". Singh alleged that the prime minister "does not know what is happening in this Government, does not control the Governemnt and his party".