New Delhi: Union minister Uma Bharati today attacked Rahul Gandhi for criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with Uttarakhand crisis, saying the Congress leader has no right to talk on the issue as his party had dismissed BJP-led state governments after demolition of Babri mosque.
The Water Resources Minister also sought to underscore that the collapse of Congress-led governments in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were triggered by rebelling party MLAs and “not by the BJP” and asked the opposition party to “manage its own home first”.
“As far as Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are concerned, I will remind Rahul and Sonia Gandhi that when the December 6 episode had occurred, neither the chief ministers nor ministers of (BJP-ruled) Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were present in Ayodhya.
“Nor any MLA had rebelled. All BJP MLAs were with their governments, yet these governments were dismissed by Congress and then elections were held there. Sonia and Rahul should not forget, their memory may be weak, but not that of people of the country,” Bharati told reporters while briefing about upcoming “India Water Week|”, scheduled between April 4 and 8.
She maintained that BJP came to the fore in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand to “ensure peace and development” only after Congress legislators defected from their parent party.
Further hitting out at the top Congress leaders, the minister referred to days of Emergency to state that the Congress chief and her party vice president-son have “no right” to talk about democracy or autonomy states.
Meanwhile, Bharati urged the Congress president to ask her party men to co-operate with the government over Damanganga- Pinjal river linking project as it is in the interest of people and not the BJP.
Targeting Modi over the developments in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Rahul today accused him of trying to kill democracy in the country and claimed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was doing the same in West Bengal.
PTI