New Delhi, Sept. 28: BJP leader Arun Jaitley today said the Opposition did not have the numbers to dethrone the government, which was “collapsing” because of its inner conflicts.

Addressing the media with his Lok Sabha counterpart Sushma Swaraj, the Rajya Sabha Opposition leader said the perceived lack of the UPA’s stability was because of the “lack of leadership and the lack of credibility in the government and the Congress”.

Jaitley was responding to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s comment that the Opposition was getting “prematurely restless” and trying to “force (an) early election”.

Yesterday, while returning to India, Singh told journalists on board his special aircraft that despite the “attempts to destabilise the polity”, UPA II would “stay its course”.

Jaitley said the BJP was “not involved” in the 2G scam, nor was it a “beneficiary” of the 2008 cash-for-votes scandal. “We do not have the numbers to destabilise the government,” he said. “The government is destroying its own legitimacy, it is collapsing because of its inner conflicts and corruption,” he added.

Sushma alluded to the perceived differences between P. Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee, saying the Congress “can make the two ministers shake hands and make up. But they owe answers to the people of the country. If mid-term polls happen now, it would be because of the government’s doings and not of the Opposition’s asking.”

The BJP pursued the home minister with the same vigour with which it had gone after former telecom minister A. Raja but, curiously, it was reticent about attacking the Congress and the Prime Minister aloud. Asked if the 2G scam could eventually singe the Prime Minister and some Congress leaders, Sushma said: “We need proof before making a charge. When we attacked Raja, it was on the basis of evidence.”

Jaitley said: “The last has not been heard on the 2G saga.” The closest the BJP came to criticising the Prime Minister was when Jaitley said that he had “distanced himself from ground realities and was living in denial” and “protecting tainted ministers”.

“Two of his (Singh’s) explanations merit comment. First, he said he had full confidence in his ministers. Second, he said I will defend my ministers. It would have been better if instead of protecting his tainted ministers, he protected the truth. If the PM chooses to believe in a tainted minister, then the country will find it hard to repose its confidence in the PM,” Jaitley said.