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Addressing the BJP parliamentary party meeting, Vajpayee rejected the Opposition's demand to quit on moral grounds and said the National Democratic Alliance had a majority in Parliament and it was the Opposition which shied away from debate or probe for which his government was ready.
Vajpayee, who addressed the meeting only for a few minutes, agreed with Union Home Minister L K Advani to effectively counter the Opposition tirade against the NDA coalition inside and outside Parliament.
As part of this strategy, the first NDA rally to be addressed by the prime minister and other NDA stalwarts will be held here on March 25, Ashwini Kumar, parliamentary party secretary, told UNI.
Advani, in a hard-hitting speech, derided the stand taken by the Opposition to stall the debate, which was against democratic principles. ''No democracy would function if their (Opposition's) demand for resignation without discussions is accepted,'' he said.
Terming the allegations levelled against the government on the basis on video tapes of a dotcom company, Advani said no deals had taken place and the Opposition wanted the government to quit on 'illusory' grounds. There had been no transaction or purchase and still Defence Minister George Fernandes, Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly and BJP president Bangaru Laxman had resigned, he said. While he did not content that there was no corruption involved, he said that what was important was how the government reacted to the situation.
To justify his argument, Advani recalled the way former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had handled allegations levelled against then petroleum minister K D Malaviya. The prime minister had initiated an inquiry by a judge in his 'personal capacity' and Malaviya had to quit after the informal inquiry found the allegations or receiving funds as true.
The home minister said the government was ready for facing the no-confidence motion or move a confidence motion.
Pramod Mahajan and Defence Minister Jaswant Singh also expressed their views on the situation, which has so far seen Parliament being stalled by the Opposition for five days.
UNI
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