Chennai, Sept. 5: The BJP today challenged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to prove that he is “in charge” of the government.

Party president M. Venkaiah Naidu said if Singh’s assertion that there are no dual power centres — made at the media conference in Delhi yesterday —is true, it should reflect in the Prime Minister being able to sack the half-a-dozen “tainted” ministers in his cabinet.

“The Prime Minister says ‘I am in charge’, but the BJP says if that is so, let him discharge his responsibilities without outside interference,” Naidu told a news conference here today.

Accusing the Congress of foisting a “false and politically motivated case” on Uma Bharti, Naidu said the BJP has accepted “the challenge”.

Uma — charged with inciting riots after hoisting the Tricolour on the disputed Idgah Maidan — resigned as Madhya Pradesh chief minister, surrendered to the police and is now in prison, he said. But “what about the tainted ministers in the UPA government”?

Not alone, says Aiyar

Aiyar claimed that he was not distanced from his party and his “personal views” on Veer Savarkar were within the framework of Congress policy.

“The Congress... policy was established when... Sonia Gandhi took the lead in getting the entire Opposition together to boycott the ceremony when Savarkar’s portrait was hung in the central hall,” he told a television channel.