BJP questions PM's threat to resign

Bharatiya Janata Party is questioning Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's sudden threat to resign in case the left parties take to the streets if the government goes ahead with the nuclear deal in its present form.

"He had enormous opportunities to do so in the past but why now?" asked Ravi Shankar Prasad while briefing newsmen in New Delhi on Saturday.

Dr Singh had, in an interview printed in The Telegraph, had said that if the left wanted to go ahead with the withdrawal of support then so be it.

Sources in the Union Cabinet have denied that the prime minister ever said anything like this.

"If he has to speak then he would do so with an editor," the paper had claimed in an interview given to its correspondent.

Barring his interaction with women journalists at a tea party organised at his house where he spoke freely, Dr Singh has not granted any individual interview to any media person on a one to one basis, the source pointed out.

The prime minister's office maintained a studied silence on the subject.