First Year of UPA-II Speaks Poorly of Performance: Jaitley

As the UPA-II celebrates completion of its first year in office, the main opposition BJP today protested against its inability to check rising prices, said media reports.

Led by Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, BJP workers sported black arms bands as a sign of protest against government’s failure to curb inflation at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, reports said.

Talking to a TV channel, Jaitley said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh failed to convince the country and the current ratings of the government would not help it in elections, said reports.

The BJP leader said that the PM might be in power but he was not in control, reports said.

He described prime minister’s press conference as a disappointing affair as he dodged questions, reports said.

“The prime minister has virtually nothing to say. Are you wiser after the press conference Rajdeep? You know a little more than what you already knew about this government before this press conference started. Every question can’t be answered in a sentence or two, without going into the core issues involved,” Jaitley was quoted as saying.

“As far as governance is concerned after one year speaks very poorly of the performance of the UPA government. Therefore the effort was really to dodge and not to answer and that was the press conference all about,” he was quoted as saying.

Jaitley asked as to how the prime minister intended to handle differences within the UPA on the Maoists, saying that initiating against rebels is weak and they will speak against it, said reports.

Jaitley said that the government was in trouble and he was not sure if it would last full five years, reports said.

“Political power is not immortal, if you don’t perform then perish. Divisions within the government are not a sign of strength,” he was quoted as saying. “The PM is decent, but he can’t check corruption of his colleagues.”

(Based on internet reports)