Expressing disappointment over Home Minister Rajnath Singh's remarks on the Arunachal Pradesh episode in Lok Sabha, Congress today said BJP did not reflect any sense of regret and tried to wash its hands off the constitutional crisis it had created despite talks of cooperative federalism.
The party has sought a short duration discussion on the Arunachal Pradesh issue and expressed hope that BJP will display "greater responsibility and accountability".
"In the reply of the Home Minister, we found that BJP tried to obfuscate the responsibility to distract the attention of the people and almost tried to wash its hands off the constitutional crisis it had created," Congress spokesman Gaurav Gogoi said.
He said the reply of the Home Minister seemed to indicate that the BJP had nothing to do with these developments but how can it deny the role of the then Arunachal Pradesh Governor and, in case of Uttarakhand, party General Secretary's?
"Can the role of allurements to various MLAs of the Congress Party be denied by the BJP?" he asked.
"The Home Minister has indicated that BJP was yet to absorb the implications of the Supreme Court verdict. It seems they are still deluded by power and feel they can use unconstitutional methods without being held accountable to people of Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh and states where BJP is still undertaking attempts to destabilise democratically elected governments," the Congress leader said.
Gogoi said while the Supreme Court has held BJP "guilty" of constitutional overreach, "yet, instead of owning accountability, despite talk of cooperative federalism, we saw no sense of moral regret today in the remarks of the Home Minister and it is deeply disappointing and at the same time deeply disturbing."
He said, "We had hoped that we would get an assurance that in the future, the BJP will not employ such unconstitutional methods."
Hoping that in the coming days, there will be a broader discussion in the Lok Sabha on this issue, he said, "We have submitted a request for a short duration discussion under Rule 193. We hope that given a second chance, the BJP will show far greater responsibility and accountability than what it has shown today."
Gogoi alleged the Arunachal Pradesh Governor misused his constitutional position. "This subversion of constitutional positions to further BJP's political agenda is what the Congress party is terming a systematic pattern to destabilise the Indian democracy," he said.
On GST, Gogoi said Congress wants to ensure the passage
of a "strong" GST Bill.
"We hope the government given its mandate will show magnanimity in allowing a different set of opinions and will allow that platform to be created so that all of us can come together and ensure that the GST gets passed," he said.
To a question on when the government and Congress will meet again to iron out differences on GST, he said, "As of now, I have no information regarding any further invitation by the government for a meeting".
Replying to a question about BJP's proposed 'Tiranga Yatra' on August 15, Gogoi said, "We all pledge our commitment to the Indian flag, but often in the case of BJP, symbol matters more than results. The Indian public wants change on the ground. They want to see prices come down. They want to see educational facilities improving, they want to see consumer inflation come down, rural inflation come down, jobs are created.
