Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh on Sunday said the current assembly polls in five states were not a referendum on Manmohan Singh government's policies and that their outcome may not prompt the Congress-led coalition to go in for a mid-term gamble.
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In an interview to PTI on board his special bulletproof vehicle, Singh felt the revival of the third front would only add to woes of the United Progressive Alliance government. He said mid-term polls could take place any time because of inner-contradictions within the UPA government, which would collapse the moment the allies fall apart and outside supporters withdraw their vital prop.
He said the allies of the UPA are unhappy and the Left parties, outside supporters of the government, are giving the Congress-led coalition sleepless nights by opposing its various decisions and policies hammer and tongs.
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On whether the BJP would extend support to the Third Front or take its support to dislodge the UPA at the Centre, he said it would all depend on the situation as and when it evolves.
He said the realignment of political forces could take place in the near future but declined to go into details.
"The UPA is on life support system. The moment the oxygen pipe is removed, it will collapse," he said.
On the perception that the RSS was remote-controlling the BJP, Singh dismissed the suggestion as unfounded and asserted there was no interference from the Sangh. About frequent consultations with Sangh Parivar leaders, the BJP chief said he was associated with the Sangh since childhood. "It is like my family," he said.
On Sanjay Joshi's reinstatement, he said Joshi had stepped down on moral grounds immediately after the sleaze CD controversy. "Now that he has come out clean, he has been reinstated."
On the possibility of Uma Bharati's return to the BJP, Singh refused to be drawn into any discussion on this. Asked if her departure from the BJP amounted to loss for the party in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP leader simply said, "I do not think so."
On Congress president Sonia Gandhi's resignation from the Lok Sabha and chairperson of the National Advisory Council, the BJP president said it was not a sacrifice but a 'fraud' played on the people of the country.
Sonia knew that she had to go on the ground of office of profit and, therefore, quit to escape embarrassment, he said, adding that truth could not remain under wraps for a long time. He said Sonia would not have resigned if the Left had not opposed the proposed Ordinance aimed at exempting certain offices of profit from disqualification.
Ridiculing the decision to reconvene Parliament, Singh said the government owed an explanation why both the Houses were adjourned sine die in the first place when it had to be reconvened.
There are several important issues, which the BJP-led opposition would raise in Parliament, Singh said, halting at roadsides to acknowledge greetings of the people who turned up braving scorching heat to welcome him. These included Volcker, clean chit to Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, the Scorpene submarine deal and inflation, he said.
Singh dubbed as a 'political stunt,' the government's move to introduce reservation for Other Backward Classes in institutes of higher learning.
On whether the two parallel yatras reflected a struggle between two power centres in the BJP, he said there was nothing to be surprised about it. "There have been four yatras at a time in the past," he pointed out.
Singh has addressed over three-dozen meetings all through his gruelling journey in the past few days.