Cong should change its name to ‘Indian Nautanki Congress’: BJP

Describing Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of the controversial ordinance on lawmakers as “drama”, BJP on Saturday said that Congress should change its name to “Indian Nautanki Congress”. “Rahul tried to show that he is different from his partymen. It was a complete drama with an unsuccessful script,” BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters here on Saturday.

“They should change their name to Indian Nautanki Congress ahead of the parliamentary elections... You (Congress) keep on writing such ‘nautanki’ (drama) scripts. After Lok Sabha elections you will get enough time for such things,” he said.

“In the last nine-and-a-half years, the UPA government has not delivered anything except corruption... After the Lok Sabha elections, Congress’s condition will be very bad,” he said.

Targeting prime minister Manmohan Singh, he said that although he was at the helm of affairs, the actual power lay in the hands of Rahul and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Naqvi sought to know why Rahul, “if he was so worried” (over the ordinance), did not protest when the issue was discussed in Parliament.

The Union Cabinet had on September 24 cleared an ordinance to protect MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification upon conviction in a criminal case with a jail term of two years or more to undo a Supreme Court verdict.

Meanwhile, Hahiling the Supreme Court order on ‘right to reject’, the BJP vice-president said that although the party had long demanded electoral reforms, the government’s priorities had been the nuclear deal and FDI in retail.

“We will hold a discussion to bring a legislation pertaining to electoral reforms in the coming Parliament session,” he added.

Naqvi also demanded that political partiesbe brought under the ambit of Right to Information (RTI).

Talking about the Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, he said, “Chhattisgarh is a very important state from the election point of view and the preparation for it is on in full swing.”