Black humour against BJP? Yes; Against UPA? No: Sibal

Bangalore: Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Friday sought to indulge in "black humour" vis-a-vis the ruling BJP government in poll-bound Karnataka, but appeared to be "stumped" when asked to do so targeting the Congress-led UPA.

Speaking to reporters here two days before the May five Assembly poll, Sibal sought to mock at the BJP government which he joked has given rise to "new terminology" like "Laboratory for Corruption" for LOC, "Corruption Made Easy" for CME and "Yeddyurruption", referring to former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa who had faced corruption charges. But when a reporter sought to know from him terminology for 2G and Commonwealth Games scams, he was evasive. "I can`t be indulging in black humour against myself", he said, with a chuckle, evoking peels of laughter at the press conference. "You give me a bit of time outside (the press conference hall) and I will consider explaining", Sibal said, smiling broadly. "I am very cooperative in that way". Meanwhile, on a serious note, he slammed the BJP for "stalling" proceedings of Parliament, accusing the main opposition party of making "disruption in Parliament a part of Parliamentary strategy". "They (BJP) don`t want to pass any legislation for the simple reason that they don`t want us (Congress-led UPA) to go to the people of India and say this is the important legislation that I (UPA) have brought", Sibal said. He scoffed at "Gujarat development model" as promoted by Chief Minister Narendra Modi and described it as "PR (public relations) manipulation, to manipulate the mindset of people". On Karnataka, Sibal said the BJP government has "reduced the state to complete penury", noting the state debt has now mounted to Rs 1.2 lakh crore (more than the budget) from Rs 49,000 crore in 2005. He also mocked the Janata Dal (Secular) of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, as Janata Dal (Saffron). "There is a mask; there are two faces of Janata Dal. We have seen that before (when JDS joined hands with BJP in 2006 to form a coalition government) and perhaps we may see them (two faces) again", he said. PTI