New Delhi, Aug 19: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today attacked the Opposition for bringing a no confidence motion against the government without any valid reason and took exception to the nine-point chargesheet levelled by Leader of Opposition Sonia Gandhi accusing government of endangering national security and jeopardising defence. "It is a peculiar thing that words like chargesheet are used by one party against another and ultimatum is being given. This is not a good thing," Vajpayee said intervening in the two-day debate on the no-confidence motion moved by Sonia yesterday.

The Prime Minister said that he has been in Parliament since 1957 but he had never seen such a no-confidence motion.

"A no-trust motion is brought when a government is on the verge of collapse or to keep it on its toes. But I wonder why such a motion has been moved now when there is no question of our government breaking nor do you intend to break it," he said in a spirited speech.

Maintaining that the debate on the no-confidence motion has not thrown any light on the intention behind the Opposition move, Vajpayee said that Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi`s charge that the government has endangered internal security or jeopardised national defence was not acceptable.
A visibly agitated Prime Minister took exception to the allegation that the government had "mortgaged" its foreign policy, saying if it was true India would have sent its troops to Iraq.

"Do you think India is so cheap that anyone can mortgage it ?" he asked in an aggressive tone.

"How have we weakened national security? doesn`t the Opposition need to provide proof before making such charges?" Vajpayee asked.

Contending that there was always consensus on India`s foreign policy, the Prime Minister said that the Opposition was trying to divide the house on the issue into camps.
Expressing shock over the words like "insensitive, irresponsible and brazenly corrupt" used by Sonia to attack the BJP-led coalition, Vajpayee said in political field there might be differences "but what sort of style is this to express it".

"What sort of evaluation is this? the dictionary has been dug to come out with choicest of words," he said.

Vajpayee also took exception to Sonia’s assertion that his government had "betrayed" the mandate of the people.
Asking who has made Opposition the judge in this regard, the Prime Minister said that the government would be there till the people wants.

"The trial of strength will be there in the assembly elections," he said adding one should never lose sight of dignity and decorum as abuses will not solve problems.

He said that in the rat race of competitive politics, one should not question each other`s patriotism.

The Prime Minister wondered over the leader of the Opposition`s charge that the government was attempting to destroy the public sector.

He said that the Opposition is not joyed over the revival of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and was projecting a doomsday picture which was not good.


Vajpayee said that he was perplexed over the opposition move to bring a no-confidence motion and felt it was a case of "sour grapes".

The Prime Minister said that the country was passing through a transition when coalition governments had become the order of the day.

Apparently referring to the Shimla conclave of Congress, Vajpayee said it showed that now the main opposition was also in search of friends.

He said that it was, however, still unclear as to what sort of friends the congress gets and how they would behave. Coming down heavily on Sonia for charging that government had mortgaged the foreign policy, Vajpayee asked "to whom have we done so" and added "do you think India is so cheap that it can be mortgaged. Won`t we feel ashamed?
Hitting out at congress over references made to the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests, Vajpayee asked "didn`t you want to make bombs?"
He said that Congress was also moving in that direction but it came under external pressure.
Vajpayee said that his government went ahead with the tests without coming under the US pressure Bureau Report