BJP: Congress trying to politicise judiciary

New Delhi: Even as the Congress claimed that there was no politics behind the petition challenging the rejection of the Opposition parties’ impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, the BJP on Tuesday accused the Opposition party of “forum shopping” and politicising the judiciary. The Congress withdrew the petition challenging the rejection of the impeachment notice against the CJI by the Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, after the apex court set up a five-judge bench to hear the petition. The BJP asked the Congress whether it “likes to run its failed politics by forcing the involvement of judiciary and politicising it.”  

After the Congress MPs — Pratap Bajwa and Amee Yagnik — who had filed the petition decided to withdraw it, the Opposition party claimed that the sole purpose behind the petition was to ensure independence of the judiciary and maintain dignity of the court.

Senior Congress leader and the counsel for the party MPs, Kapil Sibal said that there was nothing personal against anyone in the court as he pitched for transparency in the judicial process. He said the petition challenging Mr Naidu’s order was to ensure that the rule of law was followed in courts and that the processes of law were “pure.”

During the hearing, Mr Sibal raised questions on the setting up of the constitution bench, including who passed the order for setting up the five-judge bench to hear the matter. He also sought of a copy of the order on setting up of the bench.

Union minister Arun Jaitley said if the motion for impeachment was “unsustainable,” the petition challenging Mr Naidu’s order was “unarguable.”