Ridiculing the Bharatiya Janata Party, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said the saffron party's decision to anoint Lal Kishenchand Advani as the saffron party's prime ministerial candidate was taken because its leadership was 'nervous' and feared a 'threat' from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
However, he parried questions about who would be the Congress' prime ministerial candidate in the next elections. "It will be decided in due course of time by the Congress party," he said.
"The central leadership of the BJP is nervous. They want to fill the post which is not vacant before the Gujarat election results are out," he said.
Replying to questions on the BJP's decision on Monday, he said he did not have much knowledge about the internal affairs of that party, but he had read in the newspapers that BJP was feeling a 'threat' from Modiji.
"They want to crown someone with the throne of Delhi in advance before the Gujarat election," he said.
To a question as to why the Congress had not declared the chief ministerial candidate in Gujarat, Singh said, "The Congress is a democratic party. The people of Gujarat will elect their MLAs and they will decide who will be the chief minister".
He dodged questions on the fate of the India-United States nuclear deal and the likelihood of mid-term elections in the wake of the fresh Communist Party of India-Marxist ultimatum to end safeguards talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency or risk early polls.
"Many things are published in newspapers and I cannot speak about how much truth is there in the reports. Our talks with the IAEA are going on and the Left is aware of it. The process is underway and when it gets completed, we will take the next step forward," Singh said.
Avoiding a discussion on the prospects of a snap poll, Singh said, "We will cross the bridge when we come to it".
