New Delhi, Aug 19: Asserting that the ruling coalition had failed to reply to the Opposition charges during the debate on the no-confidence motion, Leader of Opposition Sonia Gandhi tonight said the Vajpayee government had no explanation for its failure on all fronts. "Even after over 20 hours of debate, the government has failed to properly answer the charges. They can try to hide their omissions and commissions, but they have to reply to the people," Sonia said replying to a marathon debate on the no-confidence motion moved by her.

She said that while all members in the house had taken an oath in accordance with the constitution, the ruling NDA coalition was attacking all constitutional institutions "which is dangerous for democracy and the country".

Refuting Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani's charge that she had directed all congress chief ministers not to implement Pota, Sonia said, "I challenge him to prove his charge".

Stating that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had wondered why the motion had been brought by the Opposition at this juncture, she said "there are a number of such instances earlier when no-confidence motions were brought in the House to expose the failure of the government and not to replace them".

The Congress president said such motions had to be worded according to the opposition liking and not to that of the Prime Minister.

Countering Vajpayee's arguments that the economy was advancing on a fast-track, she said it was not so as the growth rate had come down to four per cent.

On defence preparedness, Sonia said, "We read very carefully the 19th report of the standing committee on defence. I am sure if the Prime Minister had done so, he would have agreed with us little more".

On the foreign policy front, Sonia said that if the Prime Minister's claim that there was no pressure was true, then "Why did it take so long to condemn the attack on Iraq and also to decide not to send our forces to Iraq".

While Congress had welcomed the Prime Minister's visit to China, it was during his visit that Chinese incursions into Arunachal Pradesh had taken place, she said.

She asserted that the motion had been brought as it was important for the nation and it was "a moral and democratic responsibility of the opposition and its right to do so".

Sonia said that she had made nine charges on the basis of government documents, including those of the Comptroller and Auditor General as well as the standing committees.

"Government says all these allegations are false and when I raise national issues, they make allegations against me," Sonia said.
On national security, the Leader of Opposition said it affected everyone and "I can say with confidence that the government has not given a proper answer to any one of the points raised by us".

She said that she had raised the farmers issue on which "ten crore families were dependent but there is no word of compassion. Not a single word was said on it".

Sonia said that poems would not help dalits and youth get jobs and the track record of the government was such that it could not defend itself.

The Congress president said that the ruling coalition had even sought to saffronise education and neglected the sector.
Countering the claims made by the government about its achievements in the field of information technology, space and atomic energy, she said it would not have been possible without Congress having given the initial thrust to them.

"I want to remind them that because of the Congress legacy that this government has been able to succeed in bringing about revolution in these fields," Sonia said.

She said that the no-confidence motion was a "special opportunity given to us by the people and we cannot break it like you have".
Bureau Report