Fight Govt spin, Vajpayee tells MPs

Echoing the NDA resolution adopted yesterday, A.B. Vajpayee today called upon BJP MPs to counter the ‘‘mithya prachar (false propa...

Echoing the NDA resolution adopted yesterday, A.B. Vajpayee today called upon BJP MPs to counter the ‘‘mithya prachar (false propaganda)’’ that the Opposition was responsible for disrupting Parliament. He reiterated that the ‘‘sole cause’’ for the uproar in the Lok Sabha last week was the absence of Union Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Vajpayee’s remarks at the BJP parliamentary party meeting today also underlined the pro-active role the former prime minister has suddenly started to play in this session. He had led the protests in the House against the Railway Minister’s absence on December 15. Today too, he was vocal, unlike the last session when he preferred to sit in the back benches if he came inside the Lok Sabha at all. He also delivered the main address at the meeting. Since it was the last such meeting of the year, BJP MPs used the opportunity to greet Vajpayee on his birthday which falls on December 25, party spokesman V.K. Malhotra said.

Apart from criticising the government for not taking the Railways Minister to task for his absence, Vajpayee also attacked the general performance of the UPA.

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According to Malhotra, the former PM said the government was full of contradictions, and had failed to deliver on any of its promises. He asked party MPs to spend more time in Parliament and also travel around the country to expose the failures of the UPA government.

In his address, Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani referred to the upcoming elections in Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana and asked all BJP MPs to actively work for the party’s victory in these polls.

On their part, the MPs raised several issues including the plight of farmers and the ‘‘great betrayal’’ by the UPA government on the employment guarantee issue. The Bill introduced in the House today was a very watered down version of the original promise of providing work to one person in every family, Malhotra said.

BJP vice president Sushil Modi, meanwhile, concentrated his guns on RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav and said his decision to cancel the December 23 ‘‘maha railla’’ was a victory for the BJP.

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Officials at every level had been ‘‘coerced’’ to provide vehicles, hoardings, and other material to make the rally a success. The EC’s order prohibiting them from doing so had forced the RJD chief to cancel the rally, Modi said.