HYDERABAD: Union Coal & Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy on Sunday found fault with what he called “doublespeak” of Rahul Gandhi — boasting about their victory when the Congress wins and blaming the EVMs or the Election Commission when the party loses.
Describing Rahul’s comments as an attack on constitutional bodies, the BJP leader reminded everyone that the Congress had backed the EC’s work when it won the Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana Assembly elections. “A senior Congress leader in Kerala had credited the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) for purification of electoral rolls by deleting fake votes and also said it had helped them win the polls,” Kishan said.
Addressing the media at the state party headquarters, the Union minister said: “They are just exhibiting their political immaturity by blaming the EC when they lose elections. The EC does not have the onus of making Rahul Gandhi prime minister. A party which imposed Emergency in 1975 and denied freedom of the press, human rights and kept the opposition leaders behind bars doesn’t have the moral right to talk about the Constitution.”
“Congress had even recommended removal of the election commissioners to the President when they found that they were not on the same page. We are being forced to move the court to exercise our right to protest. It’s shameful that Revanth Reddy, instead of solving problems of people in the state, is going to Kerala and saying that he is ready to sacrifice for the sake of the Sonia Gandhi family,” he added.
‘Congress trying to weaken constitutional bodies’
Kishan also said that the Congress seems to be hell-bent on weakening the constitutional and security apparatus of the country. “Rahul blamed the Army chief, Air Force, NSA Ajit Doval, Lok Sabha Speaker, CJI, ED, CBI, IB and even media houses. He created distrust even in Parliament and GST mechanism. His words reek of aristocracy and a sense that only his family should rule the country is behind his attitude,” he added.
The BJP leader credited the NDA’s success to the lack of a single corruption allegation against its government and the successful provision of infrastructure over the last 12 years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Congress should ponder over why it is out of power in UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Gujarat and AP since 1989, 1990, 1977, 1998 and 2009 respectively. He warned that people in Telangana, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh will teach a lesson to the Congress for leaving them bankrupt and unable to even pay salaries to their employees. “Voters were removed from electoral rolls under the supervision of the Supreme Court,” he said.
On the reported differences between the election commissioners, the minister stated that the EC members had themselves stated that there are no differences between them. “That chapter is closed and the opposition is creating an unnecessary ruckus,” he said, while reminding the public that there have not been any curfews, bomb blasts and communal clashes in the past 12 years.
Retired HC judge demands removal of Gyanesh
Adilabad: Stating that the names of around 17 crore voters were deleted from the electoral rolls across the country in the name of Special Intensive Revision (SIR), retired high court judge justice B Chandra Kumar on Sunday demanded that the Union government remove Gyanesh Kumar as the chief election commissioner.
Speaking to the media during his visit to Adilabad, Chandra Kumar said that two members of the three-member Election Commission of India opposed certain decisions and they also submitted letters 14 times to the chief election commissioner but he refused to take their advice. Stating that such irregularities were curbed during the tenure of TN Seshan as the CEC, he said: “The present CEC is controlling the voters from Delhi.”
