NEW DELHI: The Congress claimed on Tuesday that after Anantkumar Hegde, another leader of the ruling BJP, Jyoti Mirdha, has openly said that the party's aim is to change the Constitution, while asserting that it is a "deliberate strategy."
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor shared on X an undated video of Mirdha, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Rajasthan's Nagaur, in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, in which she is purportedly heard talking about the saffron party securing a majority in both Houses of Parliament for constitutional amendments.
"After Anant Hegde let the cat out of the bag, BJP leaders hastily stuffed it back in and dropped him from their candidate list. Now another BJP candidate openly says the BJP's aim is to change the Constitution," Tharoor said on X, adding: "How many more candidates can the BJP disavow for revealing the truth?"
Reacting to Tharoor's post, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X: "These are all orchestrated by the MahaSutradhar himself. It is deliberate strategy."
Congress MP MK Raghavan also shared the video on the microblogging platform and said, "BJP candidate Jyoti Mirdha, contesting from Nagaur, Rajasthan, was speaking about how the BJP plans to change the Constitution."
"BJP MP Anant Hegde had also said that BJP will change the Constitution if they get 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections," he said.
In the video, Mirdha is heard saying, "Desh ke heet mein kai kathor nirnay karne padhte hain. Unke liye humein samvidhanik badlav karne padhte hain. Agar samvidhan ke andar humein koi badlav karna hota hai toh aap mein se kai log jaante hain uske liye dono jo humare sadan hain, Lok Sabha aur Rajya Sabha, unke andar haami chahiye hoti hai (Several tough decisions need to be taken in the country's interest. We have to make constitutional amendments for them. If we have to make amendments in the Constitution, many of you would know that we need the nod of both Houses of Parliament, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha)."
"Lok Sabha mein aaj BJP aur NDA ke pas prachand bahumat hai, us mein koi kami nahi hai, lekin Rajya Sabha mein aaj bhi humari majority nahi hai. Agar is baar teesri baar NDA ki sarkar aati hai.... (In the Lok Sabha, the BJP and the NDA have a massive mandate, but we still do not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha. If the NDA government returns to power for a third time...)," she purportedly said.
Mirdha's remarks came days after the BJP axed former Union minister Hegde, a six-term Lok Sabha member from Uttara Kannada, from its list of parliamentary poll candidates this time.
At a gathering at Karwar in Karnataka, Hegde had said the BJP needs a two-thirds majority in both Houses of Parliament to amend the Constitution and "set right the distortions and unnecessary additions made to it by the Congress."