BJP in business of poaching MLAs and stealing governments: Anand Sharma on MP crisis

In the wake of the ongoing political crisis in Madhya Pradesh, Congress leader Anand Sharma on Wednesday alleged Bharatiya Janata Party is "in the business of poaching MLAs and stealing governments" instead of following democratic principles.

"The BJP is a ruling party, it is expected to follow certain norms and democratic principles, but they are now seriously in the business of poaching MLAs and stealing governments," Sharma said.

"A few months back the same modus operandi was there in Karnataka. They did it in Arunachal, Manipur, and Goa. This party is so strong in Lok Sabha and in many states of the country. Why is the BJP intolerant towards the existence of a non-BJP government in major states, which have come into the office because of popular mandate," he questioned.

The senior Congress leader also hit out at the BJP for not discussing Delhi violence in Parliament. "It was promised that after Holi there will be discussion in the House on Delhi violence. But the attitude of the government shows that it is not serious on discussion and running away from giving answers," he alleged.

He alleged that the government lacks compassion and remains "adamant and insensitive". "It wants to avoid a serious deliberation on the worst communal riots in the history of Delhi," he claimed.

"We want to tell the Prime Minister and the government that this is not the way that serious challenges are addressed. We have yet to hear even outside Parliament a word of compassion or expression of grief from the Prime Minister. Only he can explain in Parliament why he has been conspicuously silent over this tragedy that unfolded in the national capital," he said.

The senior Congress leader said the government cannot evade accountability. "It would have been better if the Prime Minister on his own, on the first day itself had come up with the statement in both the Houses to initiate the discussion which can be responded to by the Home Minister," he added.