Kolkata, Oct 21 (IANS): Asserting that he supported the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) on issues of national interest, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Friday said the Congress-led central government was a byword for corruption and suffered from "multi-organ failure".
"We have been cooperating with the government on many matters but at the same time we have also said that the government to respect the federal structure of the country. They cannot be hostile in any way to states run by a non Congress party," Advani told reporters.
"Land acquisition is a serious issue. FDI in retail is a matter about which we had reservation but we have never held back cooperation to the centre on issues which are of national interest," he said in response to a question.
Advani, who is on a cross-country campaign against corruption, said the UPA government was showing all sign of terminal decline and compared it with a patient suffering from multiple-organ failure.
"With every passing day, the UPA, nominally led by Manmohan Singh but commanded by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, is exhibiting all symptoms of terminal decline. Several of its former ministers are in Tihar Jail on the charges of corruption and many more are waiting in the queue to enter," said Advani.
Taking a dig at the differences among UPA allies, he said the UPA should be renamed Divided Regressive Alliance.
"Senior ministers of Congress are publicly criticising and contradicting each other. The latest outburst by Sharad Pawar, UPA ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo, against Sonia Gandhi on the issue of Food Security Act clearly represents the NCP's annoyance at having to bear the cross of the Congress party's nosediving image as a perpetrator and overseer of humongous corruption...."
Advani also slammed the UPA for being indecisive regarding the issue of Telangana.
"The centre's volte-face has caused complete mayhem in Andhra Pradesh," he said.
Asked about his differences with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on the Jan Chetna Yatra, Advani said: "After such reports came out I had a conversation with the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in Nagpur. He expressed his surprise over such reports and told me that the moment he heard about my decision he told everyone 'what a big decision he has taken and all should support him'."