15 March, 2011 (English) - Bharatiya Janata Party

fact that the CommonwealthGames, the Adarsh HousingSociety, the S-band spectrumscams, all lead the trail to hisparty and party colleagues.Though the acceptance of scamscommitted under hisgovernment was implicit in hisspeech, yet he appeared like aman not in command and whohad been left to fend for himself:hapless and helpless. At a timewhen the nation was lookingforward to Dr. Manmohan Singhtalking tough talking and takingdrastic action, it did not help hisbrighten his image when he said,“I am not as big a culprit as I ambeing made out to be”. In otherwords, he did confess that he is“a culprit”, but not that “big asbeing made out”.The Prime Minister seems tohave completely ignored theconstitutional provision whichmakes him and his council ofministers “collectivelyresponsible”. It is the acceptedprerogative of a prime minister –and Dr. Manmohan Singh hasreiterated it at times – to choosehis team. But on appointment offormer telecom minister A Rajathe Prime Minster expressed hishelplessness before the will ofthe coalition partner. Raja wasthe DMK party choice and hencehe had no alternative but to bowbefore DMK wishes and had noauthority to object to Raja’sappointment. At the same time,it is also a fact that it was Dr.Manmohan Singh and CongressPresident Mrs. Sonia Gandhiwho had both given Raja a cleanchit saying he had done nowrong and had acted accordingto the policy of government.Prime Minister declared: “Iam not afraid of appearing beforeany committee, including a JPC.March 1-15, 2011 27Swaraj raises the issue ofkilling of Indian fishermenThe Leaderof Opposition inLok Sabha Smt.Sushma Swarajmet Shri PrasadKariyawasam,H i g hCommissionerof Sri Lanka ather residence onFebruary 11.During thismeeting, Smt.Swaraj raised the issue of killing of Indian fishermen by the SriLankan Navy. She apprised the High Commissioner about her recentvisit to Pushpavanam, Distt. Nagapatnam. During her visit, thefamilies of the killed fishermen and other villagers informed her thatthey do not enter Sri Lankan water. However, some times the windpressure pushes them inside that territory. The Leader of Oppositionapprised the Sri Lankan High Commissioner about the people’sanger and anguish relating to this issue.The Sri Lankan High Commissioner informed Smt. Swraj thathis Government disapproves these killings. Further, he promised toconvey her concerns to the highest authorities in Sri Lanka.(FOC)•And this is an entirely wrongimpression that I was the oneblocking the agreement on aJPC.” If this was so, the PrimeMinister owes an explanation tothe nation as to why it took himmore than three months to spellout his stand on JPC and after afull session of Parliament hadbeen wasted.Only in May 2010 the PrimeMinister had volunteered tomake way for Rahul Gandhiwhenever the Party asked him todo so. But during his interactionhe stressed his determination tocomplete his present term andcomplete his task. He is contentand comfortable in leading ascam tainted and scandal riddengovernment. The PrimeMinister’s silence on variousscams has been as stunning ashis media interaction todissociate himself from all these.The Prime Ministerdeliberately chose not to raise hisvoice on many issues lest that isseen as an assertion of hisauthority. But, it did raise thequestion whether our PrimeMinister has a voice of his own?He is in office, as Shri ArunJaitley, Leader of Opposition inRajya Sabha once said, but notin power. •