Cong accuses Shekhawat of 'impropriety'

'Attending NDA meetings improper.'

As Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, backed by the NDA, today joined the presidential race by filing his nomination papers, the Congress accused him of "indulging in brazen politicking and constitutional improprieties."

This has led to a situation where the ruling establishment has come into direct confrontation with its vice-president.

"Mr Shekhawat is the first constitutional functionary who has indulged, in the most brazen manner, in politicking while occupying the second highest constitutional post,'' said Congress spokesperson Devender Dwivedi.

The Congress said Shekhawat attended an NDA meeting at former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's house in which the political strategy for his election was finalised. This, he said, amounted to constitutional impropriety as a vice-president was supposed to be politically non-partisan.

Although Dwivedi refrained from seeking Shekhawat's resignation, he made it clear that the vice-president's conduct would remain under constant watch in the run-up to the presidential polls for "use and misuse of office.''

Dwivedi said Shekhawat's decision to contest raised important constitutional issues. While according to the Constitution, Shekhawat, the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, was the sole competent authority to give rulings on political defections by parliamentarians, it was ironical that his "strategy for presidential elections was solely based on the premise that he can engineer defections in other political parties to win,'' he said.

Dwivedi said the Congress' criticism was based on "issues,'' as against "mud-slinging and the malicious campaign launched by NDA-BJP against UPA nominee Pratibha Patil.''