Mohammad Salim speaks in Parliament. (PTI)

New Delhi, July 21: The Left today targeted the Prime Minister, accusing him of “betrayal” and his government of “sitting in America’s lap”.

“We gave him a debit card. He has already exceeded the cash limit. But he thought he can draw as much as he wants because George Bush told him to do so,” the CPM’s Mohammad Salim said.

He scoffed that Manmohan Singh felt hurt when the Left asked him questions. He then recited an Urdu couplet that translates roughly as: “The sailor is asked what deal he struck with the storm; did you mortgage the river or sell off the shores?”

After Singh praised CPM veterans Jyoti Basu and Harkishen Singh Surjeet as the architects of the ruling coalition — without mentioning Prakash Karat — Salim tried to return the compliment by apparently contrasting his role with those of past Congress stalwarts.

He said the CPM had extended support to the government because of the Congress’s legacy of the freedom struggle, the philosophies of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, and Rajiv Gandhi’s disarmament stance, and “not for compromising with our national interest under American pressure”.

Other Left leaders tore into the Prime Minister’s speech. Salim’s party colleague Nilotpal Basu dismissed Singh’s arguments as “childish”. RSP general secretary T.J. Chandrachoodan termed the speech a “short, dull” one.

“He (Singh) has nothing to say. The speech conveyed nothing. He was repeating blatant lies,” Chandrachoodan alleged.

Forward Bloc secretary G. Devarajan said Singh’s short speech showed his “low confidence level”.

Although Congress and BJP speakers avoided attacking the Left, the Samajwadi Party hit back.

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s brother Ram Gopal Yadav began by congratulating Somnath Chatterjee, who has resisted party pressure to resign as Speaker. Ram Gopal then turned lyrical as he defended his party’s move to back the government: “When the sky becomes clouded, sparrows hide in nests but the pigeon comes out to dance.”

He added that the Samajwadis could never suspect Singh’s integrity and patriotism, and blamed the efforts to topple the government on one person’s ego (read Prakash Karat).

Ram Gopal recalled the communists’ role during the 1962 Chinese aggression and accused them of trying to shackle the Prime Minister as if he were their bonded labourer.