Narendra Modi with actress and MP Hema Malini at the BJP national executive. (AP)

New Delhi, Jan. 27: The BJP today showcased itself as the best protector of coalition dharma, aware that no party could come to power on its own.

“The way the BJP has observed the responsibilities of alliance in several states has become an ideal in Indian politics,” party president Rajnath Singh said at the national executive meeting here today.

He cited “our alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra for more than two decades, the Akali Dal in Punjab and JD (U) in Bihar for more than a decade and with Biju Janata Dal in Orissa for nine years”.

Rajnath highlighted the hurdles the Left had created for the Manmohan Singh government, opposing the nuclear deal and several economic policy decisions, to argue that the NDA was a stable coalition that pursued development unhindered.

“In comparison to Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA government, people must be finding the UPA not only a failed but also a worthless government,” the BJP chief said in the inaugural address.

Rajnath kept his focus on the Left since no other Congress ally has caused serious trouble for the government.

The UPA never had the confidence of the people, he said, and it failed to respect the “artificial confidence” it had gained by sheer manipulation.

In the same breath, Rajnath accused the Left of hypocrisy and of fettering the government, saying it was “bitterly” criticising the Congress in public while “warmly” helping it from within.

“In fact, the Congress and the Left are engaged in fooling the people through their shadow-boxing. The people of the country are intelligent and now they have understood these tactics,” he said.

Rajnath devoted most of his speech to criticising the Left and its “follies” in Bengal. The attack was also directed at ally Trinamul Congress, which has shown signs of drifting. The BJP president said it was not easy to run an alliance without mutual trust.

Arguing that the true face of the communists was exposed in Nandigram and Singur, he alleged that “the Leftists have no qualms in killing farmers and workers of the same suppressed class for whose welfare they seek to capture power”.

The manner in which political cadres were allowed to wreak violence and the administrative machinery was misused had no parallel in the history of India, he said.

“Chaos prevails everywhere in Bengal. According to the National Statistical Survey, families living in starvation for maximum number of days in a month is the highest (10.64 per cent) in Bengal. A large-scale food scam took place in the PDS. The people of Bengal have started a food agitation against the government. In place of providing ration at subsidised rates to the people, the Bengal government has started suppressing them with bullets and batons.”