Congress fishing in troubled waters: Jaitley on CJI impeachment issue

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today accused the Congress of fishing in troubled waters and adopting a fringe position over the issue of impeachment of the Chief Justice of India which he said will hurt immediately the party in the Karnataka elections.

Jaitley's statement came within hours of two Congress MPs withdrawing their plea in the Supreme Court challenging rejection of the impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra by Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.

In a scathing blog, he said the fact that the Congress has been reduced to a two-digit party in the Lok Sabha and is being ousted from state after state, demonstrates the "non-acceptability" of its current leadership.

Without naming Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Jaitley said he opposes EVMs, prefers cash over digital mode of transaction and takes hostile stand on economic reforms.

On the Congress party's move to impeach the CJI, Jaitley said it was wholly misconceived, poorly drafted and lacked in substance.

However, "finding a divided court", the Congress wanted to fish in troubled waters, he said.

"If the motion for impeachment was unsustainable, the writ petition challenging the order of the Chairman, Rajya Sabha, was unarguable," argued Jaitley, who himself is an eminent lawyer.

The senior BJP leader further said the rejection of a motion by a Speaker or the Chairman is a part of the legislative process. The rulings of the Chair on whether to admit a motion or otherwise, are not subject to judicial review.

"But wanting to fish in troubled waters", he said the Congress conceived of a strategy to "chose a court of its choice" for mentioning for constitution of the bench to hear the matter so that an unarguable matter could be arguable before a more receptive court.

"The Congress Party was looking for a friendly pitch to bowl on," said Jaitley.

He also wondered whether it is right for a national party to deviate from the mainstream and take such fringe position?