Stung by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks suggesting a rift between its leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Kishenchad Advani, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused him of attempts to divert public attention from governance to "non-existent" issues.
BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley insisted Vajpayee and Advani have been working in coordination almost 50 years.
"There are few (such) examples in history about a 50-year coordination," he told reporters on New Delhi.
The BJP leader claimed there were no differences between the two leaders.
The prime minister, he alleged, had tried to deflect attention from "debate" on issues facing the country to "differences between Vajpayee and Advani when none exists".
"It's a case where the prime minister has become a victim of his own propaganda. People do make such mistakes when they come to power," Jaitley said.
His comments came in the wake of Dr Singh's remarks in Kerala on Wednesday that both Vajpayee and Advani are "quarrelling" with each other.
The BJP leader, who spoke at length about his party's perception of internal security, Kashmir and farmers' issues, accused the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre of being unable to deal with terror, the agrarian crisis, coalition politics and with differences among organs of state over rights and power, insisting the issues should act as a "wake-up" call for the prime minister.
Last month, the BJP's office-bearer meeting showed up differences between Advani and party chief Rajnath Singh as the former deputy prime minister, apparently upset over induction of three more Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh pracharaks, stayed away from the event.
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