CHENNAI, JULY 22: The TMC today lashed out at the BJP-led Government at the Centre on the reshuffle of as many as 14 secretaries, saying it violated the code of conduct of the Election Commission, and basic principles of democratic governance.The Vajpayee Government had revealed its lack of political decency and of respect for ethics in effecting such large scale transfer of officials, TMC general secretary S Peter Alphonse told media persons at Satyamurthy Bhavan.The prime minister has not bothered to listen to the President ``on sensitive matters.'' Nor did he care to respect the demand of the Opposition to convene a session of the Rajya Sabha and place before the House the government's decisions for debate, Alphonse said.He criticised the BJP for throwing to the winds the traditional democratic values and restraints of a caretaker government. The TMC leader cited disinvestment of PSUs and the new telecom policy package as instances where the Vajpayee regime tended to act without any accountability to the parliament and the people.The prime minister had not taken the nation into confidence so far on the Kargil episode, Alphonse pointed out. ``Patriotism is not the monopoly of the BJP alone,'' Alphonse said, blaming the government's inefficiency and the defence ministry's unpreparedness which took a heavy toll of Indian soldiers' lives.
