Cong. accused of taking 'short-cut' to power

By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI, MARCH 31. The BJP president, Mr. Jana Krishnamurthy, has accused the Congress of adopting a ``short-cut,'' to usurp power at the Centre after resorting to undemocratic and violent methods, by exploiting the exposure of Tehelka.com.

Mr. Krishnamurthy, while talking to reporters here today, said Congress cadres attacked the central office of the BJP at New Delhi and had even threatened to launch attacks against party offices at Patna, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Mumbai. It was sad that a party, which claimed to have inherited the ``ahimsa principles'' of Mahatma Gandhi, had resorted to violent methods to achieve their objective.

He said the Congress should have agreed to a thorough debate on the Tehelka exposure on the floor of Parliament and even gone for a no-confidence motion to remove the Government. But it had adopted an undemocratic stance and objectionist tactics by stalling the proceedings of the Parliament, just to draw the attention of people. He requested the Opposition parties to allow the Parliament, when it resumed in April, to transact its normal business as many important bills were waiting to be passed. The political battles, he said, could be fought outside the walls of the Parliament and amidst the people.

The Central Government, he said, had constituted the one-man commission of inquiry, headed by Mr. Justice K. Venkatasami, to go into the allegations of bribery in defence deals, to identify the guilty. After the final report, the guilty, ``whoever he may be'' would be punished.

Referring to Bofors and the submarine deals in the past, Mr. Krishnamurthy said as far as the issues related to defence were concerned, all possible steps should be taken to avoid the recurrence of any lapse. Claiming that the BJP would always endorse purity in public life, the party president reiterated his support to evolve a code of ethics for the people's representatives. He also said his earlier demand for a code of ethics for MPs, was not confined to his party alone. ``I demanded a code of ethics for all members of Parliament.'' He further added that his demand for the same, however, did not arise at the backdrop of Tehelka tapes. The concept was mooted some two years back when the Rajya Sabha constituted a Committee on Ethics which also had submitted its report. The national council of BJP, which met at Chennai in 1999, had also endorsed the need for a code of ethics for MPs, Mr. Krishnamurthy added.

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