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.
