Manmohan is neither leader of party nor country: BJP

As the UPA got down to celebrating its fourth anniversary, the BJP Wednesday trained its guns on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said he was neither leader of his party nor the country.

"For a coalition government, there is a need for a special leadership. I regret to say that in UPA Manmohan Singh is the prime minister but not leader. He is neither leader of his party nor the country," BJP leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj told the media here.

She said the UPA leadership was divided. "In the cabinet, UPA allies sit with the prime minister but for any solution to their problems they look towards the UPA chairperson (Sonia Gandhi)."

There now seemed to be one-upmanship between the Congress party and the government as well, she added.

"This divided leadership is leading to uncertainty in the country. This is political failure," she said.

Discussing the economic failures of the United Progressive Alliance government, Sushma Swaraj said: "When the NDA had come to power, we had inherited a crumbling economy. But when we left the government, we gave them a booming economy."

The BJP leader said the UPA-II had crossed all limits as far as corruption was concerned. "There was not so much corruption in UPA-I. One scandal leads to the other. The amounts are mind-boggling."

Her colleague Arun Jaitley, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said the UPA's fourth anniversary was being celebrated in a negative and pessimistic environment.

"The propaganda is not being accepted by the country. All opinion polls point to the fact that the Congress and UPA are losing their popularity fast.

"Never in history has the prime minister's post been so dimunitive."

With the elections only months away, the UPA-II government will present a final report card to mark its fourth anniversary.

The 'Report to The People 2013', which will be released by the prime minister, is expected to try blunt the opposition attack with statistics.