Congress workers protest against BJP attack on PM

Protesting against Bharatiya Janata Party's continuous demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, hundreds of Youth Congress workers on Wednesday gathered outside the BJP headquarters at Ashoka Road here.

The Youth Congress activists questioned the right of the BJP to raise their demand, when its former government in the state of Karnataka had been removed by the people due to its corrupt ways.

Delhi Police had to use water cannons to disperse the agitating Congress workers after they stormed the three-tiered barricades. However, the activists refused to budge from the protest site.

Holding flags and banners, the protesters said that the BJP must stop asking for the Prime Minister's resignation. Senior police officers remonstrated with them, and asked them to end their agitation.

Just two days ago, around 2000 workers from the BJP clashed with the Delhi Police after they defied prohibitory orders and attempted to march towards Dr. Singh's 7 Race Course Road (RCR) residence in Delhi.

The president of the BJP's youth wing, Anurag Thakur, and the head of the party's Delhi unit, Vijay Goel, led the protest march in their demand for the Prime Minister's resignation over the coal scam.

Earlier, asserting that the Prime Minister has no moral right to continue, senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu had said the opposition party will start a "Jail Bharo Andolan" from May 27 to June 3 against the Congress-led UPA Government.

"The BJP has decided to take up a nationwide campaign about the UPA Government failure and also explain to the people about the non-functioning of parliament, non-functioning of the government, confrontation between the government and the opposition and also various scam and scandal of the UPA Government," Naidu told media here.

"We will protest, for the Prime Minister's resignation. Our demand is that the UPA Government should go," he said.

BJP President Rajnath Singh had also asked Manmohan Singh to step down from his post following the resignations of his two "tainted" ministers Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashwani Kumar.

"I would appeal to the Prime Minister with all humility that you introspect and decide what should be done so that there is a trust in the people with regard to the country's political system. I believe that if the Prime Minister does the introspection with all sincerity, then there is no other option left rather than tendering the resignation paper," Singh told mediapersons here.

In a swift and decisive move, the Congress Party had dropped both Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Kumar Bansal from the Union Cabinet in view of the charges of corruption and impropriety surrounding the duo.