The Opposition BJP made a scathing review of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh?s press conference saying that the entire exercise was designed to ?deflect? rather than answer questions. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley said , ?The PM has decided not to answer but deflect.? ?When no answers are given, the country is entitled to presume that there is no answer . He decided to talk, but not speak. Why decide to hold a press conference when you decide not to speak,? he said.
Jaitley said that the country was hoping that something substantive was being done on inflation, price rise, Naxalism and terror. ?The PM chose to give false hope instead of a substantive answer. The government has run out of ideas on how to control prices,? he said. Jaitley was particularly scathing over the way the PM answered the question pertaining to telecommunications minister A Raja. ?Many Congress people say that the PM?s personal integrity is unimpeachable, but to tolerate corruption and shield the corrupt is just as bad,? he said.
He added that no one disagreed with the PM that peace with Pakistan was a laudable goal. ?But there are two ways of going about it. One is the Vajpayee way, the January 2004 declaration in Lahore where an undertaking was given by the Pakistan government that no part of Pakistani territory would be used for terror against India, and the other is the Sharm al Sheikh joint statement,? he said.
