Dona Paula (Goa): BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) today (Jul 30, 2004) said that the Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) Government was living in a "fool's paradise" if it expected a "constructive Opposition" without abandoning its own "confrontationist" approach. Reacting to the Government's rejection of NDA's (National Democratic Alliance) demand that it should make "amends" for Lok Sabha leader and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee's denunciation of the Opposition in the Parliament, party vice-president and spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, "The ruling coalition is living in a fool's paradise if with a destructive attitude it is expecting a constructive Opposition."

Naqvi, who is in Goa to attend the party's brainstorming session, held the Government "solely responsible for wasting the precious time of Parliament and the current stalemate".

NDA had recently decided to boycott all consultative and Parliamentary committees protesting the Governments' "negative and confrontationist approach".

"They have been ignoring the Opposition right from the beginning and are running away from discussions on the burning issues facing the nation," Naqvi said.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had in Delhi yesterday (Jul 29, 2004) dismissed as "unjust and unfair" the demand for expunging Mukherjee's remarks against the Opposition.