The Hindu : `PM did not address issues raised'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 21, 2003

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`PM did not address issues raised'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 20 . The Opposition parties today charged the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, with having failed to respond to any of the issues raised during the discussion on the motion of no-confidence, which was rejected by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Accusing the Prime Minister of having shown disregard to parliamentary norms, the CPI (M) parliamentary party leader, Somnath Chatterjee, told presspersons here that Mr. Vajpayee chose not to touch upon several subjects, such as unemployment, problems of farmers and rural areas, Ayodhya and the Government's stand on the Supreme Court ruling on strikes.

Charging that the Prime Minister was "unconcerned" about the issues, he said the Finance Minister was kept away from the discussion. He also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of having "misused" the occasion with an eye on the coming Assembly elections — with both Vasundhara Raje Scindia and Uma Bharti raising issues relating to their States.

Referring to the Defence Minister, George Fernandes' intervention, he said Mr. Fernandes "gave himself" a certificate of honesty. The Opposition had never questioned the prerogative of the Prime Minister (of choosing his Council of Ministers), but the issue was of probity in public life.

He said no Prime Minister could question the right of the Opposition to question the Government. "This is callous disregard towards parliamentary norms," he said, adding that such a "miserable" performance was "condemnable".

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