Won’t dismiss elected state govts: Rajnath
LUCKNOW: Confident of forming the next government at the centre, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party chief Rajnath Singh on Monday said his party, if it came to power, would never indulge in any ‘undemocratic act’ like dismissing any elected state government.
The comment comes in the backdrop of party’s UP incharge Amit Shah, a confidant of party’s PM candidate Narendra Modi, oft-repeated remarks UP’s Samajwadi Party government would be dismissed once a Modi government was formed at the centre.
Rajnath, who said BJP might even get 300 seats on its own, made it ample clear that there won’t be any deviation in the party’s stand formed during ‘Vajpayee days’ of not destabilising any elected state government.
Addressing media persons in Lucknow on Monday, the BJP chief also attacked Congress president Sonia Gandhi for “undermining the authority of the prime minister.” Referring to the revelations made by PM’s former media advisor Sanjay Baru in his book, Rajnath said, “I haven’t read the book yet but it’s clear that the UPA I and II governments were remote controlled by the Congress chief. PM Manmohan Singh had the post but he didn’t have the authority.”
On the controversy generated by veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi’s remarks that there was “no Modi wave but a BJP wave” across the country, he said, “BJP and Modi” were “inseparable.”
Despite distancing himself from Shah’s ‘will-dismiss-UP-government’ remark, Rajnath batted for his UP in-charge, who along with Samajwadi Party lead- er Azam Khan has been banned from campaigning for making hate speeches.
Rajnath also flayed Khan for saying that like the CBI, the Congress was misusing EC to settle score with political rivals but was expectedly soft on Shah.
“I don’t think Shah’s speech had communal overtones. My party doesn’t support attempts to communally or socially polarise the atmosphere. In any case Shah has submitted his reply with the EC,” he said.
He said though Vajpayee wasn’t an economist like the present PM still the “economic performance” of the BJP-led NDA government proved that Vajpayee was a “realist” PM.