'PM's authority diluted by mushrooming power centres' : BJP

New Delhi, May 30 (UNI) The BJP today launched a veiled attack against UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Left Parties holding them responsible for dilution of the authority of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his office and accused them of evolving a system to bulldoze the nucleus of power centre of the government.

In the political resolution unanimously adopted by the two-day National Executive, the party said that the biggest casualty of the UPA government had been the governance and its hallmark was its utter disgard for the democratic institutions. The PMO is the nucleus of India's power centre and UPA had evolved a modus operandi where the PM can be stripped of authority.

"The PM holds office but is not in power, nor is he perceived to be. The PM is not held in awe or admiration. He is an object of pity and sympathy. Never before has the office of PM been so deliberately denigrated", the resolution said.

The dilution of Prime Ministerial authority had been compounded by the mushrooming of numerous power centres outside the government.

"Alliance partners have realised that the PM can be easily pushed around", the party said. Although the party had been articulating such sentiments orally, recording their sentiments against the PM in the political resolution was a pointer to the level of BJP's disappointment.

The Left parties ostensibly support the government from outside and yet they exercised the veto that determined the ideological direction of the government. The contradictory and conflicting ideological directions of the ruling party and the Left have paralysed the decision making. The era of taking bold decision is over and India which once strode forward decisively is now crippled by lack of consensus, the party noted highlighting the ''failures'' of the UPA government's two years in office.

The BJP said the UPA government was held to ransom by the constituent partners. The Left dictated the agenda and the RJD succeeded in pressurising the government to subvert the Constitution and dissolve Bihar Assembly.

The UPA government had inherited the fastest growing economy of the world two years ago when the country was witnessing an unprecedented 8.4 per cent GDP growth while the agricultural production had peaked to a record high and the industry and services sectors had stabilised at plus eight per cent growth rate. The UPA only had to ensure bold decisions to enhance productivity, efficiency and generate greater economic activity.

"Unfortunately for the country the ideological contradictions within the alliance has totally paralysed the decision making", the party observed.

The BJP stated that the Government Leadership has to be decisive and could not afford to adopt 'do-nothing' approach and hope to achieve consensus. The growth witnessed in the economy was enterpreneur driven and not because of the policy. The party, however, has hailed the decision to modernise the airports of Delhi and Mumbai but regretted that no other significant economic step had been taken by the government.

The economy, the party said had witnessed complete slowdown in infrastructure creation and the National Highway programme is made to crawl because corruption had delayed the tendering of award.

Rapid expansion of sea ports had been halted. The power sector had not seen any capacity increase and reforms were abandoned. Even the mega project to link major rivers of the country had been jettisoned, the BJP observed.

For the first time in many decades, India's food security was threatened and the country was forced to import wheat paying higher prices while the farmer suicides in the country were soaring high beause of unremunerative prices and lack of clarity in the policy.

"UPA government now stands exposed as a pathetic manager of Indian economy and the people are paying heavy price for indecisive and reckless UPA", the resolution noted.

UNI