Against 'corrupt' 'dictator' Modi and BJP's 'untouchability': Ali Anwar

Commenting on Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal's rejection of the proposed Gujarat Lokayukta Commission Bill, Janata Dal (United) leader Ali Anwar on Tuesday took a jibe at Narendra Modi, and alleged that the Gujarat Government was immersed in corruption, under a chief minister who modeled a dictator.

"I think the Governor's stand is valid. The Governor has this right to send the Bill back. Narendra Modi wants to keep everything in his own fist. He wants to keep the whole nation in his own fist. His style is that of a dictator," Anwar said.

"You are seeing from the very beginning that people from his government and he, himself, are against any objective and unbiased Lokayukta because they are neck deep immersed in corruption and, thus, they fear that they will be exposed," Anwar added.

Anwar also predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would face severe problems in the upcoming 2014 Lok Sabha elections, as the party has resorted back to 'social and political untouchability' after the alliance with the JD(U) ended, earlier this year.

"Whether they declare his (Narendra Modi's) name (as their Prime Ministerial candidate) or not, there is not an internal consensus on it within their Party. However, their purpose is clear in the way that they have projected it. We have nothing to do with it. We have taken a different route and we are against them," Anwar said.

"The BJP, who had with great difficulty to remove their social and political untouchability-because of our support to them, the political untouchability was removed-have returned to the same ways. They will become untouchable in the political sense and no one will give them support. No one will be willing to agree to their leadership," he added.

Earlier, Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal rejected and sent back the proposed Gujarat Lokayukta Commission Bill, which seeks to give all powers pertaining to the appointment of the state Lokayukta to the Chief Minister, to the State Assembly.

The proposed Bill proposes to virtually end the role of the Governor and the Chief Justice of the High Court in appointing the Lokayukta.

In August, after a long-drawn and controversial battle with the Gujarat state government in Court, Justice Mehta in a letter to the state Governor had refused the position of Lokayukta saying that he felt unwelcome by the state government.

"A Lokayukta unwanted by the government cannot get all the necessary and timely support from a reluctant government," Justice Mehta said.

"How can I take responsibility and become the Lokayukta when my objectivity and credibility are not accepted by the government and public functionaries whose conduct the Lokayukta may have to investigate?" Justice Mehta added.

"Rs. 45 crores of public money is said to have been spent by the Gujarat government in this litigation. This is a humongously disproportionate figure by any standard," Justice Mehta wrote in the letter.

The Modi-led Gujarat government had long argued that the appointment of Lokayukta by Governor Kamla Beniwal was "illegal" as it was done without consulting the their government.