Cong, BJP spar over deadlock in Parliament

NEW DELHI: Even as the deadlock in Parliament over formation of joint parliamentary committee (JPC) continued, the Congress and the BJP took the battle outside the House indulging in a vicious war of words.

While Congress accused the Opposition of acting as “agents of Maoists”, BJP termed the ruling party “Quattrocchi’s agents”, referring to the Bofors scam.

“There is a propaganda of the Maoists that Indian democracy does not reflect the aspirations of the people. The manner in which the Opposition has disrupted Parliament and not allowed the supreme voice of the people to function, it gives credence to the propaganda of Maoists.

It almost seems as if the Opposition is behaving as their agents,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters outside Parliament.

BJP was quick to retort as spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said: “Quattrocchi’s agents are accusing us of being Maoist agents. Quattrocchi’s agents do not have the right to say so.”

As the slanging match threatened to turn scathing, Congress asked Tewari to tone down the attack. According to sources, Congress media department chairman and senior general secretary Janardan Dwivedi spoke to Tewari and told him to change the criticism in the official press briefing.

Speaking to reporters at the Congress briefing on Thursday, Tewari said, “The most serious internal security threat before India today is from the powers which don’t ideologically accept democratic traditions. They want to overthrow democracy with violence.

In such a scenario, the Opposition, which is not allowing Parliament to function, should think seriously who is benefiting out of this.”