Even BJP never sought withdrawal of Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna: Congress lashes out at Arvind Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday lashed out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for seeking the withdrawal of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna. Hitting out at the Delhi CM, Congress said that even the Bharatiya Janata Party, the political arch-rivals of the Congress, never made such a demand. 

“Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed his life for the country, not even BJP has ever demanded to take back Bharat Ratna from him,” Congress leader Ajay Maken said.

Maken also sought Kejriwal’s apology over the resolution passed in the Delhi Assembly over Rajiv Gandhi. “Kejriwal should apologise and this portion of the resolution should be expunged from the assembly’s proceedings,” he said.

However, Maken also called AAP the B team of BJP. “The true colours of AAP have come out in the open! I have always believed that AAP is the B team of BJP! AAP fielded candidates in Goa, Punjab,MP, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh just to cut the votes of Congress and help the BJP,” the minister tweeted.

The Delhi Assembly had on Friday adopted a resolution on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots where some ‘handwritten notes’ sought withdrawal of Bharat Ratna awarded to the former prime minister. Soon after uproar, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swiftly distanced itself from the reference to the Congress leader.

Party spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed the lines about the former prime minister were not part of the original text placed before the house and it was a handwritten amendment proposed by a member that cannot be passed in such a manner.

AAP MLA Jarnail Singh, while moving the resolution in the Assembly, had mentioned Gandhi’s name while reading the text and demanded the Bharat Ratna to the Congress leader be withdrawn for “justifying anti-Sikh riots”.

But after Bhardwaj’s remarks, Singh said it was only a technical shortcoming. He said though the reference to Gandhi in the resolution was not there in the written copies, it was made orally and passed by the House by voice vote. The resolution called for speedy trial of cases and termed anti-Sikh riots as genocide.

Bureau Report