Uttarakhand row: Congress should introspect why legislators leaving party, says Venkaiah Naidu

Asserting that the Centre has no habit of pulling down any govt, Naidu blamed the internal crisis in Uttarakhand on Congress

Justifying the imposition of President's rule in Uttarakhand, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu today slammed the Congress leadership, asking it to "introspect" why its legislators are leaving the party instead of blaming the central government.

Naidu was also dismmissive of the remark of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who said that the Modi government wants to topple the AAP government in Delhi.

"I saw the Delhi Chief Minister saying this that after Uttaranchal, then Himachal, then Delhi... They are trying to divert the attention of the people from their failures and then trying to put the blame on the Centre. The Centre has no role at all. These people, who are talking of murder of democracy, it is like shedding crocodile tears," he said.

Asserting that the Centre has no habit of pulling down any government and it is "all false propaganda", Naidu blamed the internal crisis in Uttarakhand on Congress.

"If any party's MLAs fall out with the party how can one blame the Centre. It has become fashion to criticise the Centre for each and everything," Naidu said.

Seeking to shift the blame on the leadership of Congress for "defection" of its MLAs, Naidu said, "The Congress leadership must introspect why its legislators are defecting. The Congress legislators are fast losing confidence in their leadership."

Congress has accused the Centre of having "murdered democracy" by imposing President's rule in Uttarakhand.

Rejecting the charge, Naidu said, "Congress and its supporters dismissed 91 non-Congress governments and now they are giving us sermons."

"It is the Congress party which has always encouraged defection and they have propounded a new theory, if others join them its affection, if people go out it, it is defection," Naidu said taking potshots at the opposition party.

Citing constitutional breakdown in the state, Naidu dismissed opposition's criticism over the prorogation of the Budget session of Parliament and insisted that it was done to give finances to the state.

"There is no logic in the criticism of the opposition. A situation is created in a state where there is constitutional breakdown, the state could not get its Appropriation Bill passed. If the Appropriation Bill is not passed, the employees of the state will not get their salary from April 1 and the development of the state will come to a standstill.

"So it is the duty of the Government of India, as a custodian of the Constitution to take care of such a situation and you cannot do it, if Lok Sabha is not prorouged. So we have proposed to prorogue the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha," Naidu said.