Solapur: Lamenting that Congress has lost its moorings completely, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today (Mar 16, 2004) said the party suffered from a crisis of values, principles and leadership.

Blaming the Congress failure to provide good governance for losing its premier position in Indian politics, Advani said, "It is not a good sign that Congress is in a poor shape."

Before embarking on the seventh day of his 'Bharat Uday Yatra', that commenced from Kanyakumari on March 10, the senior BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) leader said, "Congress can neither provide good governance nor can it uphold India's pride. I believe that Congress downslide can be attributed to the disappearance of good governance from the agenda of the party," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Claiming that Congress was a "shrinking party", Advani said, "It has lost its direction and ideology and there is a vacuum of leadership." Advani said he pitied the Congress, whose only agenda was to assume power. He, however, said Congress' downslide was not a good sign and added, "An aggressive and responsible Opposition is a must at the Centre. A regional party cannot fulfil this task at the national level."

Referring to a consistent slide in the number of Congress MPs (Member of Parliament) since 1984, Advani said that he wondered whether the party would manage to cross a three-digit mark in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.