New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday remarked that Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has exposed the Congress’ “sordid history”, saying that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Trinamool Congress had split from the grand old party.
This comes after the LoP accused the BJP of breaking up regional parties.
“Vote theft… Government theft… Now party theft too… These have become symbols of our democratic decline,” Rahul Gandhi had said while backing the Trinamool Congress faction led by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over its party symbol row.
In a self-made video, BJP National General Secretary Smriti Irani said: “In yet another attempt to defame the Election Commission of India and attack the BJP, Rahul Gandhi ends up exposing the sordid history of Congress.”
She accused the Congress government of misusing Article 356 and dismissing nine state governments in 1980.
“Is it not true that in the UPA era, the Congress government dissolved the Bihar Legislative Assembly? This step of the party in 2005 was held illegal and unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of India,” the BJP leader said.
Questioning the Congress leader, Irani asked: “Why is it that Rahul Gandhi insists on attacking the Election Commission which is hailed the world over as the harbinger of not only democracy but also a commission that has used modern technology to ensure that every vote counts? Whose agenda is Rahul Gandhi fulfilling by continuing to attack the Election Commission of India?”
BJP MP Sambit Patra accused LoP Rahul Gandhi of “disrespecting” India’s judicial system.
“There is no doubt in this that the ‘Dimagi Naxals’ do not hold any regard for the Indian judiciary system in any way. Rahul Gandhi ji is also ignorant of his own party’s history. The Congress party has broken dozens of parties recorded in the pages of history and has toppled dozens of governments in non-constitutional ways,” he remarked.
Addressing reporters, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad echoed a similar view, saying: “Congress has been expert at breaking parties and toppling governments.”
“Whether it’s Trinamool or NCP, due to the actions of the Congress, these parties broke away from it,” he said.
Speaking to IANS, BJP National Spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari compared the Congress to ‘Bhasmasur’, a Hindu mythology demon.
“Every regional party was formed because it was fed up with the Congress,” he asserted.
Bhandari added: “From 1951 until now, there have been 70 splits within the Congress, including big and small. Whether Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee or J. B. Kripalani, all wanted to form their own party (splitting up from the Congress). It points that historically Congress has been a threat to democracy.”
–IANS
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