PM should take call to continue after Rahul attack: BJP

It is for the prime minister to decide how he would like history to judge him, said Jaitley

The BJP today said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has to take a call on whether he should continue in office without any "serious legitimacy" or quit after Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi "rubbished" the Ordinance on convicted lawmakers.

"The Prime Minister's post is an institution. We also criticise the Prime Minister when we are not in agreement with him. But when his own party starts rubbishing him then the office he holds suffers a highly adverse impact," said Arun Jaitley, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha.

He was talking to reporters at an interaction at Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC) here.

However, when asked if he feels the Prime Minister should resign, he was evasive and said Singh has to take a call.

"It is for the Prime Minister to decide how he would like history to judge him.... That he continued in office without any serious legitimacy?" he said.

Jaitley also found fault with the government going ahead with the Ordinance despite public sentiments being against it.

"There was no political thinking behind the Ordinance. The country was not happy with it. Government should have read the pulse of the people and backtracked," Jaitley said.

He ridiculed the Congress saying that in a dynastic institution like the ruling party the family is above the PMO, the party itself and Parliament.

Slamming Rahul, Jaitley said, "For a member of the family to say I have the veto... In a structured party this does not happen."

The BJP leader further said that if Gandhi was not in agreement on the Ordinance the party could have suggested to the Prime Minister to have a relook at it keeping the public view in mind. He questioned the manner in which Gandhi had over-ruled the PM by calling the Ordinance "nonsense" and saying that it should be "torn up and thrown out".

"The manner in which it was done has caused more harm than the Ordinance," Jaitley said.