New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS): Several leaders and ministers of the BJP on Friday claimed that Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi’s language on the ongoing controversy around Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, and the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) role in the alleged ‘vote theft’ is unbecoming, and that he should let the authorities concerned work in the matter.
Rajya Sabha MP and RLM national president, Upendra Kushwaha, said that differences of opinion are natural, but the Opposition’s language is unbecoming.
“Such language should not be used. Conflict between two sides is normal. Conflict is not unnatural. The authorities responsible for looking into the matter will take necessary steps. Please let them do their job,” he said.
Jammu & Kashmir BJP MLA, Vikram Randhawa, claimed, “How can I respond to Rahul Gandhi’s comments? However, his own party members don’t take his comments seriously.”
West Bengal Minister Dilip Ghosh questioned, “Has Rahul Gandhi become the courts and the judiciary, or has he become the Constitution itself, that he gets to decide who should be arrested?”
“If you cannot win an election because the public does not vote for you after someone conducted a free and fair election where they lost, who is responsible for that?” he asked rhetorically.
In Jharkhand, Assembly LoP Babulal Marandi said, “Rahul Gandhi is going to take the entire Congress party down with him. He says anything without a clue, which the public can’t digest. Please ask him, before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, whose government was ruling?”
“Wasn’t Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister, and the UPA in power?” Marandi questioned.
He said, “The Election Commission, at the time, must have been appointed by the Congress. Later, Congress was defeated brutally.”
Jharkhand Assembly LoP Babulal Marandi continued, “Most of the issues raised are not based on logic; most are baseless. I tried to understand his (Rahul Gandhi’s) stance by reading the news on channels and in papers. Whenever there are three members, the decision is taken unanimously. There could be differences; we are human. You have to see whether the decision has been taken unanimously.”
Earlier, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, at a press conference criticised Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the BJP-led government at the Centre, asking the CEC to resign and turn “approver” in the alleged “stealing” of votes.
This came days after a media report claimed differences within the poll panel regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and other issues. The ECI has, however, rejected the report.
Addressing a press conference, LoP Gandhi questioned the “absence of anti-incumbency” against the BJP. He asserted that the anti-incumbency factor “spares no one”.
