Government may fall before 2014: BJP

Surajkund (Haryana), Sep 28: The BJP Friday sounded the poll bugle and demanded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation over coal block allocations, saying the government could fall before 2014, when the next general elections are due."I am confiddent the BJP would form the next government. It is time to give a new direction to the country's politics," party chief Nitin Gadkari said while addressing the 1,200 delegates attending the BJP's national executive and council on the concluding day of its three-day session in this town on the outskirts of Delhi."The prime minister is directly responsible for these questionable allocations. He should resign," BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said.Party veteran L.K. Advani said he was "more or less certain the government will not last till 2014"."It is in ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and it is possible its life support will go away, there will be no ventilator."According to Advani, "suddenly, some Congress allies seem to be thinking that it will be good if the government goes."He suggested the party start finalising its Lok Sabha candidates rom now itself.Stating he had seen many governments since India's independence in 1947 but had never come across one like the current one, Advani, a former deputy prime minister, said: "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has transferred his powers to Congress president Sonia Gandhi."Advani said his 2009 remark that Manmohan Singh was a weak prime minister has been proved right today."Now people agree with what I said."The veteran leader also had a word of caution for the BJP."The Congress's only escape in the present situation is to prove that all political parties are same, and corrupt," Advani said, adding: "Our aim should be clear, if the BJP is in power there should be no corruption there. We should generate such credibility."He also noted that the party leadership at all levels needed to "speak in one voice" to emerge as a credible alternative.The party's national council passed a political resolution saying the Congress-led UPA government had forfeited the mandate to govern and the BJP could give a new direction to the country."The nation is at the crossroads. The Congress-led UPA has clearly forfeited its mandate to govern," Joshi said.He claimed the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance had provided the "best government" from 1998 to 2004.Gadkari said it was time to give a new direction to the country's politics.The resolution promised the carving out of a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh if the BJP was voted to power.The economic resolution passed Thursday rejected FDI in multi-brand retail, with Gadkari saying the party would force the government to roll back its decision in parliament.The national council approved an amendment to the party's constitution to allow a second consecutive term for its president, who hitherto could serve only a single three-year term.