Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan at the inauguration of a statue and a memorial library in the name of Shankarrao Chavan in Nanded, on Thursday. (Photo: PTI )
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan at the inauguration of a statue and a memorial library in the name of Shankarrao Chavan in Nanded, on Thursday. (Photo: PTI )
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday accused the BJP government at the Centre of showing disrespect to the people’s mandate by toppling the elected governments in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. She said that the Centre’s move to dismiss the two elected state governments showed BJP’s greed for power.
Mrs Gandhi visited Nanded where she unveiled a statue of Congress stalwart and former Union minister Shankarrao Chavan and a memorial library named after him. Speaking at a public meeting organised by the party, she said, had Chavan been alive today, he would have been hurt to see unconstitutional dismissal of Congress governments, which was later set aside by the Supreme Court. “He would have objected to all these unconstitutional steps,” she said.
In a major setback to BJP and the government headed by it at the Centre, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered restoration of the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh by quashing all decisions of the governor that had precipitated its fall in January, holding them “violative” of the Constitution. The SC had only in May ordered a fresh floor test in Uttarakhand Assembly that led to the return of the Congress government headed by Harish Rawat and lifting of the President’s Rule imposed on March 27.
“We all are very proud of the Supreme Court for protecting our Constitution and democracy. Those who had trampled upon constitutional propriety and democratic norms have been defeated today,” Mrs Gandhi said.
The Congress president also accused the BJP government of putting farmers and vulnerable sections at a disadvantage by diluting the welfare schemes launched during the previous UPA rule. “It is sad that today, welfare schemes made by our Manmohan Singh government, for farmers, tribals, minorities and women are being weakened. As a result, lakhs of families are bearing the brunt. The Modi government has to be reminded that there is drought in the country. Due to your (Modi government’s) policies, farmers have been alienated. You have waived off thousands of crores of loans of capitalists, but left farmers to their fate. The BJP government is weakening welfare measures taken in the last 60 years for the benefit of farmers,” she said.
