India should have politician as PM, says Jaitley

New Delhi – In an apparent attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, BJP leader Arun Jaitley Saturday said that the country cannot afford to have non-politicians as the leader of the government.

Addressing a gathering at the 86th annual general meeting of FICCI, Jaitley attacked the ruling United Progressive Alliance, saying it had turned into a “dead duck govern! ment” from “lame duck government.”

Stressing the country cannot afford “a non-politician as prime minister”, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said the post was “not employment” and the person occupying it should be “natural leader” of his party and the country.

Jaitley, who is the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said the prime ministers can never look helpless and as if they were not being allowed to deliver.

The BJP has in the past accused the prime minister of not having the “last word” in decision making and has alleged that the real power in UPA government lies with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Referring to Congress debacle in the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Chhattisgarh assembly elections earlier this month despite the party highlighting its welfare legislations, he said that the larger message from the results was that the state governments can beat anti-incumbency if they govern well.

He also accused the UPA g! overnment of failing to evolve consensus on economic decisions.

! Referring to the points raised by earlier speakers on the goods and service tax, Jaitley said he was not unaware of its benefits on tax collection, but it cannot be done in a situation where the state governments feel that the central government was unfair.