Manmohan singh failed as PM, should quit: Advani

NELLORE: The time has come for prime minister Manmohan Singh to vacate his office and seek fresh public mandate as he completely failed in discharging his duties, BJP parliamentary party leader and former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani has said.Advani, who came here to participate in the 10th anniversary celebrations of Swarna Bharath Trust (SBT) on Sunday, told a meeting of party activists that Singh was unable to take even simple decisions either political or  administrative, and became a mere puppet in the hands of Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi. Questioning the credibility of the prime minister's office and Manmohan Singh the individual,  Advani said that every thing had been done under the guidance of Sonia Gandhi until she fell ill. Describing the Rs 1.76 lakh crore 2G spectrum scam as the largest in the world, the former Union home minister said the prime minister should shed his silence and answer the nation   why he had failed to initiate action against his cabinet colleague Raja until  the Comptroller and Audit General (CAG) exposed the scam and the Supreme Court intervened to order probe.Recalling the several scams that happened since 1952 during the Congress rule, he said `purchase' of MPs to win the no- confidence motion in Parliament on nuclear deal with the US was the most stinking that shamed the country in the eyes of the world.He criticised the prime minister for feigning ignorance of the cash-for-vote scam though his own party MPs revealed it to the American embassy as was disclosed by WikiLeaks with documentary evidence.Ridiculing Singh's talk of ‘zero tolerance' of corruption, the BJP leader wondered why Raja, Suresh Kalmadi and Kanimozhi were spending their days in jail if the words of the Singh were true. He said the apex court should thoroughly investigate the cash-for-vote scam as more facts might come out in regard to the role of the prime minister or UPA chairperson.The UPA government utterly failed to control the spiraling prices of essential commodities and curb inflation, he alleged.Party senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu spoke.  Former Union minister B.Dattatreya, party district president K Anjaneya Reddy, Suresh Reddy and others were present.