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Author: News
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: April 9, 2006
Man playing with Constitution: BJP ---- The BJP on Saturday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 'can go to any extent to save his chair' and accused him of working like "an extra-constitutional authority" creating impediments in the constitutional process.
In the most stinging criticism of any Prime Minister so far, the BJP said all constitutional propriety was being shown the door only because the Election Commissioner in question, Mr Navin Chawla, was close to 10, Janpath.
The party petitioned President APJ Abdul Kalam on this issue for the third time in the wake of reports suggesting "clean chit" to Mr Chawla by the Government.
The BJP made a three-pronged attack on the Prime Minister: While party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad held a Press conference in Delhi, party president Rajnath Singh and senior leader L K Advani dwelt on the issue in the course of their Bharat Suraksha Yatras in Orissa and Gujarat, respectively. All the three singled out the Prime Minister for bypassing the Constitution to save Mr Chawla because he enjoyed Ms Sonia Gandhi's patronage.
The party argued that only the Chief Election Commissioner was the competent authority to decide on the issue and the Prime Minister's move to get a clean chit for Mr Chawla from the Attorney-General was nothing short of creating hurdles in the constitutional process.
Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Prime Minister was working as an extra-constitutional authority and could go to any extent to save his own chair.
At Rourekela in Orissa, Mr Rajnath Singh said Mr Manmohan Singh was trying to hush up Election Commissioner Navin Chawla's reported "links" with the Congress. "Whenever something pertains to 10 Janpath, the Prime Minister feels helpless. Be it Ottavio Quattrochhi or Navin Chawla, who is close to the Gandhi family, the Prime Minister tries to hush up issues surrounding them," he told reporters on the third day of his yatra.
Leader of Opposition L K Advani said that the A-G's clearance to Mr Chawla was a technicality and the Prime Minister should refer to the CEC the memorandum by 205 MPs demanding his removal from the constitutional post.
"This is not a matter of legality. It is a question of propriety. The question is whether his (Chawla's) antecedents make him fit to hold a constitutional position where objectivity and non-partisanship are principal touchstones," Mr Advani told a Press conference.
He added: "The Shah Commission appointed by the Janata Party Government had indicted him and made serious allegations against him. He should not have been appointed in the first place as per Constitutional provisions. Neither the Government nor the A-G has any role to play in this regard."
Later in the evening, an NDA delegation, including convener George Fernandes and BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, V K Malhotra, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, called on the President and sought his intervention in the violation of the constitutional process by the UPA Government.
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