BJP has no respect for federal structure and Constitution: Yashwant Sinha

Citing the toppling of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA coalition, the joint Presidential candidate of the Opposition, Yashwant Sinha, on Thursday accused the BJP of “shamelessly” breaking and violating conventions and provisions of the Constitution one by one.

In his speech before legislators from DMK, Congress, and alliance partners, Sinha also took objection to the way Governors in opposition-ruled states like Tamil Nadu conduct themselves. Flanked by Chief Minister M K Stalin, the former Union Minister said he would continue to fight against the “excesses of the BJP and the Union Government” irrespective of the results of the presidential polls.

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DMK, Congress, Left, VCK, MDMK, and a few other parties have a combined electoral value of around 63,000 – Sinha met legislators from these outfits and sought their support. Talking about the political situation in Maharashtra, Sinha said the BJP has found a “scapegoat” in Eknath Shinde and that is the reason it made him the Chief Minister as it knows the government led by him won’t last long.

“The ruling party and the Government of India have absolutely no respect for the federal structure of our Constitution. They are breaking and violating one convention and one provision after the other. And they are doing it shamelessly,” Sinha said.

He also added that the provisions of the Constitution are being “broken by none other than the same people who were sworn by the Constitution.” On former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ statement that they pulled down the MVA government for its anti-Hindutva attitude, Sinha said the BJP wants to send a message to “secular governments” in the country that they aren’t safe.

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He also congratulated Stalin for “boldly questioning” the attempts by the Union Government to rob state governments of the powers guaranteed to them by the Constitution. Talking about Governors’ intervention in the functioning of elected governments, Sinha said, unfortunately Tamil Nadu also has a governor who “misbehaves” with the state government.

“Governors are supposed to be the agents of the President of India in states and function according to the Constitution of India. We now see the conduct of governors in (opposition-ruled) states and how they misbehave with the elected governments,” he added.