New Delhi: After the meeting of the INDIA bloc on Wednesday, the opposition parties reiterated their demand for the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) referred to the alliance as “political opportunism”.
The DMK, which had left the alliance due to its differences with the Congress, assured support to the impeachment motion against the CEC in the Parliament.
Speaking to reporters following the meeting of the INDIA bloc, Congress MP KC Venugopal reiterated his allegation that the Election Commission is “totally working for BJP”, which is why, he said, the party is “protecting” the poll panel.
Samajwadi Party MP Pushpendra Saroj said that the INDIA bloc parties have agreed that “democracy is being undermined” today.
He also alleged that the Election Commission has been “pressurised” by the BJP and claimed that if the current CEC continues, “free and fair elections won’t be possible”.
Speaking to IANS, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Bihar Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav said: “We have all come together to save democracy. We will fight to protect democracy, whether in Parliament, on the streets, or in court. The conspirators are plotting one conspiracy after another against the democracy, and they will not be spared.”
“One Gyanesh Kumar will go, and another Gyanesh Kumar specimen will come. The people of the country will have to remove the BJP. We have to save the Constitution of the country and save democracy,” he added.
While leaving after the meeting of the alliance parties, CPI-M Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas said: “It is the responsibility of every citizen to rally behind the demand for Gyanesh Kumar’s removal, so that the democracy can be saved.”
However, DMK Spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan asserted that mere meeting of the INDIA bloc won’t lead to Gyanesh Kumar’s removal as the CEC.
“It is the Parliament where it needs to be done (impeachment motion)…when the issue comes up before the House we will stand up against the CEC. Just by not attending the meeting, does not mean that we will backtrack on issues concerning the country,” he told IANS.
Similarly, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Sasmit Patra also said though BJD is not a part of the INDIA bloc, the party sticks to its chief Naveen Patnaik’s stance, demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
Meanwhile, BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal accused the INDIA bloc parties of being “opportunists”.
“This is not the INDIA bloc; it is an alliance of political opportunism among those who desire power and whom the people repeatedly reject… So, whether they meet or not has no significance, because the result will ultimately be zero. There is no constructive approach; it is a destructive approach, which has no place in society,” he told IANS.
BJP leader Shazia Ilmi also said: “The INDI Alliance meeting has been quite strange. Some people are there, some are not, some are participating virtually, and some are sending representatives.”
“Now they (Opposition) have problems with the Chief Election Commissioner, earlier they had problems with the EVM and VVPATs, then how do they want elections to be conducted? As far as SIR is concerned, do they want the deceased, duplicate and shifted voters to be retained? It’s a strange thing if they don’t want electoral rolls to be revised,” she added.
Echoing similar view, Democratic Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra said: “Nothing will come of this because the INDIA bloc has no real unity. Today they say that they are all together, and tomorrow they walk away.”
Janata Dal-United leader Rajiv Ranjan Prasad also remarked that the Opposition alliance has fallen apart “into a thousand pieces”.
(IANS)
