Rahul targets BJP for Constitution Amendment Bill on Lokpal

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday held Bharatiya Janata Party responsible for the defeat of Constitution Amendment Bill on Lokpal.

"The Congress party wanted to give the same Constitutional status to the Lokpal as Election Commission enjoys, but BJP betrayed us, even though it had initially assured its support to a strong bill."

Rahul told a public rally in Sisaya village under Dharhaura constituency of Lakhimpur-Kheri district , about 160 km from Lucknow.

He felt that the bill would not have been defeated in the Lok Sabha if BJP had kept its word and supported the Congress to ensure a two-third majority required for passing the bill.

The Constitution (116th Amendment) Bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha not only on account of BJP's string opposition to it but also because of a sudden walk-out by  Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal , who otherwise support the UPA from outside.

Terming  BJP's changed stand as "betrayal; with the people", he felt, "BJP's top leaders including  Lal Krishna Advani or Sushma Swaraj could not absolve themselves of the responsibility on the issue."

He also trained his guns at UP chief minister Mayawati, who, he felt, was opposed to every initiative to providing social security to the masses. "Take the case of food security bill, which was opposed by Mayawati who claimed, that such a law would not benefit anyone," he pointed out. .

Besides hitting out at Mayawati for large scale irregularities in the implementation of MNREGA in the state, he said, "Mayawati cannot understand the plight of the poor, because she has never seen the home of a poor man; no winder she went to the extent of terming the food security bill as some kind of melodrama."

Reiterating his oft repeated sarcasm against the UP chief minister, he quipped, ""Funds were being sent to Lucknow but a magic elephant there ate the money meant for poor." 

Rahul, who was currently on the third leg of his election tour of UP, addressed two public meetings in different parts of Lakhimpur-Kheri, that was followed by another meeting in Pilibhit.

The current five-day tour includes yet another rally in Pilibhit on Thursday, to be followed by a rally in Barielly and Shahjahanpur.  His subsequent destination was Saharanpur, where he is scheduled to address a rally on Friday.