M Venkaiah Naidu hits back at Sonia Gandhi, says charges against Modi government 'unfortunate'

NEW DELHI: Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu today hit back at Congress President Sonia Gandhi over her allegation that the Modi dispensation toppled elected governments unconstitutionally, terming the charge as "unfortunate" and said the party "which murdered democracy" has no moral right to target others.

No party "insulted" democracy the way Congress has over the past six decades, the Information and Broadcasting Minister told reporters here.

"I read in the newspapers today that Soniaji criticised the government, alleged we are working in an unconstitutional manner dismissing non-BJP (state) governments by insulting democracy.

"This is unfortunate. No party has insulted democracy until now the way these people, the party (Congress) have over the past sixty years," Naidu said.

The minister accused Congress of murdering democracy, imposing Emergency, jailing opposition leaders, amending the Constitution to increase tenure of its government from five to six years, appointing its "favourite" people in the judiciary, censoring the media and dismissing 90 state governments.

"Such a party has no moral right to point finger towards our leadership and government," Naidu said.

He maintained that the Centre had no role in what transpired in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh and that it happened because "Congressmen lost confidence in their leadership".

Seizing on the Supreme Court verdicts on Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Gandhi had yesterday accused the Modi government of disrespecting the popular mandate in its "greed for power" and tearing apart the Constitution to topple elected governments.

"The present government, in its greed for power, has torn apart the provisions of the Constitution of India and has dislodged the elected governments of Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh by disrespecting the people's mandate," she had said, while addressing a party rally in Maharashtra's Nanded.