Congress, BJP spar over pollution, potash and Parliament

As election campaign for Gujarat gains momentum, the main contenders — BJP and Congress — on Monday went hammer and tongs against each other, latching on to issues ranging from air pollution, potash scam to delay in convening Parliament session.

Recalling lines from a song in Bollywood film 'Gaman', which looked at life in a city, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi without naming him over Delhi pollution.

"Seene mein jalan/aankhon mein toofaan sa kyun hai/ iss sheher mein/ har shaks/ pareshaan saa kyun hai... Kya batayeinge Saheb, sab jaankar anjaan kyun hain (Pain in the heart, storm in the eyes/ why is everybody in the city so perturbed. Will you tell Saheb, why are you playing ignorant despite knowing everything)," Gandhi said on Twitter.

Congress has frequently attacked Modi using the word 'Saheb', which had long back surfaced in an audio tape long back in Gujarat.

Gandhi also put out with his tweet a picture of children wearing masks and a news report clipping that said 18 lakh people died in India because of air pollution.

At BJP headquarters, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar held a presser bringing under his target Congress general secretary in-charge for Gujarat Ashok Gehlot, raising "taint" against his brother in potash scam.

Javadekar referred to a website news that alleged that former Rajasthan chief minister's brother was involved between 2007 and 2009 in illegal diversion of a crucial ingredient used for making fertilizers which was actually meant for alleviating the distress of farmers.

"Those making statements daily in the name of farmers should now say what are their views after this act of a close relative of a Congress leader. Corruption is in the very nature of Congress," HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said.

Accusing the Congress of practising doublespeak, the Union Minister said, "Chori aur Seenajori"(brazening out) is the habit of Congress.

At the Congress headquarters party spokesperson Maneesh Tewari trained guns on government for not coming out with the schedule of Winter session amid speculations that it could even be scrapped or at least its duration would be substantially shortened.

Stopping short of suggesting that Congress can even approach the court over the issue, Tiwari said that available options will be exercised to ensure that Parliament's role is not undermined.

Holding the Winter session generally takes place in third week of November and political parties are informed about it by November 3 or November 4, Tewari asked why is BJP government so "scared" that it is "running away" from convening Parliament session.

He wondered whether it is due to the "completely failed" implementation of GST or because of impact of one year of demonetisation decision and other burning issues like unemployment looming large over the national horizon.
Tewari's remarks come in the backdrop of Congress attacking the government on demonetisation and GST in a big way in trader hubs of Gujarat.

"Are they scared of being raked up over hot coals of truth that even the temple of democracy — the Parliament — is not being convened by the government. This shows the complete lack of respect the government has for institutions," he said.

Calling it an 'assault' on democracy, Tewari said "if the government still does not listen, then all democratic options are open. Whatever needs to be done to ensure that the functioning of Parliament is not subverted, would be done. Under no circumstances, would we allow the erosion of institutions, which has become the sine qua non of this government.