PM has set a bad example: Vajpayee

Joining other National Democratic Alliance leaders, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his "impolite" and "unbecoming conduct" with an alliance delegation on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference after a 90-minute meeting of the NDA parliamentary group, Vajpayee said: "He [Singh] has certainly not set a good example by being impolite with the NDA delegation and not showing the basic courtesy of receiving their memorandum."

Vajpayee was flanked by NDA convenor George Fernandes and leaders of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Lal Kishenchand Advani and Jaswant Singh respectively.

Pointing out that Singh had only the other day exhorted the political class to draw a code of conduct, Vajpayee said:

"I have regards for Singh as a person, but he does not seem to be aware of the unwritten code of political conduct that should guide the interaction between the prime minister and senior leaders of opposition."

He said, "I urge the government to utilise the period between the present and the next session of Parliament to engage the opposition parties in a constructive dialogue. Let both the government and the opposition shoulder their respective responsibilities to ensure that the next session of Parliament becomes more productive," he said.