Judiciary operating in fear under NDA govt, says Rahul
RAIPUR: Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the controversial government formation in Karnataka, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday that the Constitution was under “severe attack” and that the state of judiciary in India had become akin to that in Pakistan. The BJP emerged as the single-largest party in Karnataka with 104 of the 222 seats that went to the polls but the Congress with 78 seats and Janata Dal (Secular) with 38 seats formed a post-poll alliance. The governor invited the BJP and BS Yeddyurappa took oath as chief minister on Thursday morning after a midnight Supreme Court appeal by the Congress to stay the swearing-in failed. The court will hear the case on Friday.
Speaking in Chhattisgarh hours after the oath ceremony, Gandhi said that the judiciary, press and even BJP parliamentarians were operating under fear.
“People approach the judiciary for justice but for the first time in history four sitting judges of the Supreme Court came in front of public and claimed they are not allowed to perform their duties and they want public support,” he said, referring to an unprecedented press conference by justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph in January.
The judges had raised questions about how the Chief Justice of India was allocating sensitive and important cases.