Chennai, February 8, 2013- BJP president Rajnath Singh sees no trouble from allies on the party’s Hindutva plank and said even in 2009 general elections the issue was firmly on the party’s agenda and manifesto.
In Chennai to participate in a private leadership function, the BJP president told a news conference that his party was committed to building the Ram temple at Ayodhya, as has always been the case. “T think there will be no problem with allies. In 2009 the BJP had already included it. BJP is of the firm opinion Ram temple has to be built at Ayodhya,” he said in response to questions if the BJP would face desertions from any of the allies or they would be displeased.
“But in 2009 itself, temple issue was in our programme and allies had joined despite that,” the BJP president said but gave little away on his party’s prime ministerial candidate. The BJP parliamentary board will take the decision,” Rajnath Singh said.
He then launched into a scathing criticism of the UPA 2 government and said that it was all round failure – on economy, on security and on diplomacy. The central government is a failure on the diplomatic front he charged and added that Pakistan was acting in tandem with China against India’s strategic interests.
The government at the centre is a failure on all fronts – economy, security and diplomacy – and it would strive to be in power till the very last date of its present tenure, Rajnath Singh said.
He condemned union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s remarks on Hindu terror, but his assurance that the BJP will not derail the budget session must be comforting to the government. “The BJP will raise this issue prominently but will not stall the session,” he said.
A day ahead of the visit of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa to India, the BJP too joined in criticizing the UPA government for its compromises with Sri Lanka, even though that Island nation did precious little to rehabilitate Tamils living there.
Even after two years of genocide in Sri Lanka of innocent Tamils, its government had not taken action to help the suffering population of Tamils, Rajnath Singh said urging the prime minister to raise the issue of relief, rehabilitation and empowerment of the Tamils with Sri Lanka through diplomatic channels.
INDIA TODAY
