Arunachal crisis was outcome of Cong's internal feud: BJP

Under attack following the Supreme Court's order on Arunachal Pradesh, BJP today sought to deflect the criticism saying the political crisis in the state was an outcome of Congress' internal fight and that it supported the new government only from outside.

The party maintained that it will respond to the apex court's judgement after studying its order in detail and claimed the verdict was not a setback to it.

It targeted Congress after its Vice President Rahul Gandhi took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Gandhi thanked the court for "explaining" to Modi what democracy is.

"What happened in Arunachal was an outcome of internal fight within Congress. Its government was reduced to minority after a faction within the party rebelled. We only supported the faction's bid for power from the outside. Congress should not blame us for its internal problems.

"Rahul Gandhi is talking about democracy but he should know that past Congress governments have made a century of the use of Article 356 (of the Constitution) to dismiss state governments," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said.

The Supreme Court has ordered restoration of the Congress government, headed by Nabam Tuki, in Arunachal Pradesh by quashing all decisions of the Governor that had precipitated its fall in January, holding them "violative" of the Constitution.