New Delhi: The BJP Thursday slammed the Congress for accusing Home Minister Amit Shah of breaking Opposition parties, saying the “so-called” INDIA bloc is disintegrating on its own due to its “deeds and incompetence of its leadership”.
The BJP’s response came after Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh alleged that the home minister has “split parties” and is looking to manage a two-thirds majority in Parliament through “cunningness”, which, he said, would be an insult to the Constitution and a “blot on democracy”.
Ramesh said that the Opposition has learnt that the government is making efforts to bring back the “Delimitation Bill” seeking its passage after it failed to secure a two-thirds majority in its previous attempt April 17 and suffered a significant setback.
The Congress is in touch with all Opposition parties, including the DMK and AAP, who had voted together to defeat the Constitution amendment bill related to delimitation, he said, expressing confidence that the government will not be able to achieve a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha.
Hitting back, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi alleged that the “so-called” INDIA bloc of the Opposition was formed out of “contractions, desperation and lust for power”.
This alliance was also forged by the Opposition parties out of “frustration and envy” towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP Rajya Sabha MP alleged, adding that the “so-called INDIA alliance” appears to be disintegrating on its own due to its own deeds and the incompetence of its leadership.
Lashing out at Ramesh, Trivedi asked, “Does the INDIA alliance even exist? Have you submitted a written statement to the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman specifying which parties are the members of the INDIA alliance, and confirmed that they have collectively elected a particular person as their leader?”
“If no such thing exists, do not make a futile attempt to mask your own failures by blaming others for the disintegration of something that has no actual existence… I think the Congress should introspect,” the BJP leader said.
Trivedi alleged that the INDIA bloc constituents and their leaders do not trust each other.
“Even within the (Opposition) parties, one MP does not trust another… No matter how much Jairam Ramesh tries, he cannot cover up Rahul Gandhi’s incompetence and ineptitude,” the BJP leader said, adding that the Congress should introspect, instead of blaming others for the condition of the INDIA bloc.
Another BJP spokesperson, Tuhin Sinha, dismissed Ramesh’s allegation as “absolutely false” and said all political realignments that have taken place within the ambit of the anti-defection law are legal.
“They want to break away from the Opposition side and want to align with the BJP. But in doing so, we have ensured that all the provisions of the anti-defection law are maintained, all of them are respected,” Sinha told PTI.
“So, if keeping the provisions of the anti-defection law intact, 22 members of the TMC break away and form a separate party or align themselves with a different party, if Uddhav Thackeray’s party breaks away and merges with another party, how are we to blame for it? It is part of a democratic process,” he added.
The BJP spokesperson said there was a time when the Congress had the numbers but today the BJP has the numbers.
“So to say that we have mustered these numbers illegally is absolutely farcical. It shows the despondency of the Congress party,” he added.
Rejecting the Congress’ Opposition to delimitation, Sinha alleged that the Opposition party fears the exercise will weaken the hold of political dynasties.
“Jairam Ramesh says that they will steadfastly oppose delimitation. This only shows the entitled mindset of the Congress party. They are anti-youth and anti-women,” he said.
The BJP spokesperson said the delimitation exercise has long been due and will create opportunities for new entrants into politics.
“With a nearly 50 per cent increase in the total Lok Sabha and assembly seats, imagine the kind of opportunities it is going to create for young aspirants in politics from non-dynastic families, from non-political families,” he said.
“Does the Congress have a problem with power slipping out of the hands of the family? Does it have a problem with young aspirants getting their due in politics?” Sinha said.
