The talks between the Left and the Congress over the India-United States nuclear agreement was only a commercial break, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader M Venkaiah Naidu said on Saturday. "There is every possibility of a mid-term election. Currently both the Congress and Left parties have taken a commercial break," Naidu told reporters at the BJP headquarters in Raipur.
"Like electronic media takes commercial breaks between a programme, yesterday's announcement by Congress leaders was a commercial break only," he said. The former BJP national president also pulled up Congress president Sonia Gandhi for her clarification on the Jhajhar meeting that her utterances were not against the Left Front.
Naidu also accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Gandhi of making an U-turn on their stand on the nuclear deal. "The Congress is changing its stand on the issue everyday. The government has lost its credibility and has become a lame duck," he said.
The alliance partners of the United Progressive Alliance have differences about almost every issue, including foreign policy, economic policy, investment, labour, Kashmir, relations with United States, Iran and Iraq among others, he said.
Describing the Congress-led UPA as an opportunistic alliance, Naidu claimed that it will not last in power for long. "There is no single power centre of the alliance, a point proved during the ongoing controversy over the civil nuclear deal," the former Union Minister said.
"The ruling coalition has four prime ministers, Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Prakash Karat and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav while DMK chief M Karunanidhi is acting as the super PM," Naidu added.
"Because of the BJP's credibility and the ability of Atal Bihari Vajpayee to manage a coalition government, we completed five years in office with 23 political parties," he pointed out.
The Communists are raking up controversies to woo voters in states like Tripura, West Bengal and Kerala, where the Congress is their chief political rival, Naidu noted.
"Although some people are saying that the Ram Sethu is the only issue before the BJP, price rise is a bigger issue today besides internal security," he said.
Ever since the UPA came to power in May 2004, the country's internal security situation has deteriorated and divisive forces have become stronger, the BJP leader claimed. He accused the Manmohan Singh government of not having a clear policy on this front.
Naidu observed that the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad wanted a non-political agitation against the Centre's stand so that more and more people could join the stir.
He also criticised Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi for his remarks against Lord Ram.