Sushma takes on Sonia, Indira as well

As the Lok Sabha burnt midnight oil over the no-confidence motion against the A.B. Vajpayee government today, it was clear that the intended...

As the Lok Sabha burnt midnight oil over the no-confidence motion against the A.B. Vajpayee government today, it was clear that the intended purpose of the exercise had got out of focus. Both sides, rather than discussing the failures or achievements of the Government, were engaged in a highly acrimonious debate targeted at the varied interests of participants.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, the first speaker from the treasury benches, rejected the chargesheet of Sonia saying that she wasn’t the right person to complain of undermining of parliamentary democracy and misuse of institutions like CBI.

Swaraj said it was during Indira Gandhi’s reign when ‘‘even this House was misused’’ to bring a constitutional amendment making the election of prime minister beyond judicial scrutiny.

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The Congress, according to her, had ‘‘great expertise’’ in toppling governments. She said in 1980, after Indira Gandhi returned to power, the Janata Party Government in Haryana had overnight crossed over to the Congress. ‘‘Newspaper editorials had described it as Alibaba and chalis chor,’’ she recalled.

She told Sonia: ‘‘We have snatched your USP that the Congress alone knows how to run a government.’’ She listed the achievements of the government in the fields of telecom, petroleum, uplinking of TV channels, kisan credt card and highway development .

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