BJP thanks Naidu for rejecting Cong's impeachment notice

The BJP today "thanked" Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu for rejecting the Congress's notice for impeachment of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and said the opposition party's attempt was an act of "blasphemy" towards the Constitution.

BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi told a press conference that the Congress was adopting "intimidatory" tactics towards the Supreme Court and its move was not an attack on the individual but an institution as it wanted to create anarchy by making people "lose" faith in the judiciary.

She accused the Congress of trying to create an impression in the world that India was a banana republic, something it had turned the country into when it was in power, by "disrupting institutions" and added that its institutions were "very strong" and command reverence of people.

Hitting back at the party after it criticised Naidu for rejecting its notice, the BJP leader said the Rajya Sabha Chairman's office is not a post office meant to forward petitions it receives but has to apply its mind judiciously and take a call.

"We thank him. He did not allow his office to be misused," she said, adding that the impeachment notice was the "grossest abuse of power" by the Congress.

To a question about the Congress's assertion it would challenge the decision in court, she said it was free to do so but highlighted the reported differences in the party over the move to impeach the CJI and said it had legal experts who knew law more than Kapil Sibal and had reservations about the exercise.

Former Union minister and Congress MP Sibal has been at the forefront of his party's efforts to impeach the CJI.

She alleged that after losing votes and support of the people, the Congress was resorting to the tactics of "threatening" and putting pressure on the judiciary.

It is trying to put the judiciary in a dock as it wants a "chosen few" to hear some cases, Lekhi claimed.

The New Delhi MP also claimed that the petition was moved hurriedly and was "unsure" of allegations it levelled on the CJI.

Dubbing the Congress as "disruptor of democracy and institutions", Lekhi said it had interfered with the process of appointment of judges paving the way for the collegium system of appointment in the higher judiciary.