No two centres of power, Cong points finger at RSS

The Congress today hit back at the BJP’s allegation that the UPA Government has two power centres in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and ...

The Congress today hit back at the BJP’s allegation that the UPA Government has two power centres in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, saying it was during the NDA rule that the RSS became an ‘‘extra-constitutional’’ authority.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s assuming the post of chairperson of the National Advisory Council would be ‘‘nothing unconstitutional’’, party spokesperson Anand Sharma said today. ‘‘The BJP’s allegation is misleading because the National Advisory Council is set up to implement the official programme of the government, which is the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA.’’

Sharma said Sonia had been elected leader of the UPA coordination committee already. ‘‘Gandhi is the elected leader of the UPA coordination committee set up for implementation of the CMP. Therefore, it is proposed that she be the chairperson of the National Advisory Council to supervise the implementation of the CMP,’’ he said.

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‘‘It is the BJP which has some explaining to do even today on how RSS leaders not only attended meetings in the Prime Minister’s Office but also why the press was often briefed by Madan Das Devi and Ram Madhav,’’ Sharma said. ‘‘RSS was the extra-constitutional authority of the NDA government giving directions from Nagpur or Jhandewalan in Delhi.’’

Sharma slammed the BJP’s resolution to ‘‘return to basics’’ saying, ‘‘The BJP’s excuses can baffle political analysts and shows that they are unable to accept the mandate with humility…By saying they are going back to their ideology, the BJP has shown that they are ready to fall back on an agenda that can inflict serious conflict on the society,’’ Sharma said.

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