Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of making shameless attempts to “subvert democracy” in Maharashtra and for “blatantly sabotaging” the three-party alliance from coming to power in the state, PTI reported.
Addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting in the Parliament House, Gandhi attacked Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and said that he had acted in an “unprecedented and reprehensible manner”. “There is no doubt that he [Koshyari] acted under the instructions of the prime minister and the home minister,” she said. “The BJP’s pre-poll alliance did not hold because of its own arrogance and over-confidence.”
It took weeks of discussions for the ideologically contrasting Shiv Sena and the Congress to set aside their differences and work out an alliance to form the government in Maharashtra.
Congress MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were present in the meeting.
“Every effort was made to blatantly sabotage the three-party alliance government formation, but we appealed to the Supreme Court and the Modi-Shah government was totally exposed,” the Congress chief said. “Let me assure you, we three parties are united in our resolve to defeat the BJP’s sordid manipulations.”
She also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of diverting attention from day-to-day livelihood concerns by pursuing divisive policies. The Congress interim president said the BJP leaders were “clueless” on how to manage the problems facing the country.
“There is worsening distress among farmers, traders and small and medium businesses,” Gandhi added. “Consumption, especially in rural areas, is falling. Exports are declining. And prices of essential food commodities are rising, causing hardship to households. Instead of tackling the problem, the Modi-Shah government is busy fudging statistics or, indeed, not publishing them at all.”
A survey showed that the monthly per capita consumption expenditure has declined for the first time in 2017-’18 since the 1970s. The government had reportedly withheld the report due to its adverse findings.
“The public sector has been put on the block, in all probability, to be sold off to a few favoured business people,” Gandhi added. “What will he the fate of the thousands of workers at those enterprises? Lakhs upon lakhs of salaried and ordinary families are worried about their deposits in banks.”
Gandhi accused the BJP government of revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under a “blatantly false promise”. “The ground reality is a completely different from the conjured up images by the Modi-Shah government,” she alleged.
“Former chief ministers, who were in the past allies of the BJP, MLAs, political workers, ordinary people who believes in the idea of India, who abided by the Constitution of India are under house arrest for months,” Gandhi said.
The Congress president also hit out at the government over Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, electoral bonds, National Register of Citizens and WhatsApp snooping allegations among other things.
“These are undoubtedly extraordinary times when our fortitude and resilience are under the greatest of tests,” Gandhi concluded. “But collectively we will turn the tide, not for our sake but for the sake of the Constitution, for the sake of a liberal and pluralistic democracy and for the sake of our country and our people.”
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