Shimla : Senior Congress leader and AICC spokesperson Kuldeep Singh Rathore on Saturday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to suppress the opposition parties.
Addressing a press conference in Shimla, he stated that the BJP government at the Centre failed to fulfil the promises made to the people of the country during its ten-year rule.
"These Lok Sabha elections are different this year. In the previous Lok Sabha, they issued a Drishti Patra. I want to understand why those promises were not fulfilled and now they talk about Modi's guarantee. Did people get 15 lakh rupees? Did farmers' income double? Did 2 crore people get employment? Today, they are trying to suppress those who are speaking against the government," said AICC spokesperson Kuldeep Singh Rathore.
"In Maharashtra, they broke Sharad Pawar's party. Uddhav Thackeray's party was broken. Hemant Soren was arrested. This is the first time, just after implementing the Model Code of Conduct, the Chief Minister of Delhi was arrested," added Rathore.
Rathore alleged that nowadays, efforts are being made to limit and attack the resources of the Congress party.
"The accounts of the Congress party were seized in electoral bonds. Today, they are trying to suppress and attack the resources of the Congress. Our democracy and Constitution are in threat, the ruling party is misusing central agencies like ED and CBI," he said.
"The Congress party is ready to fight any consequences. Are we not gradually moving towards an undeclared emergency? You want to conduct elections in the country. And in our state too, they are forcing the state towards an election. We are ready for all situations," Rathore added.
On being asked about six Congress rebels joining the BJP, he said that "the BJP will not be able to topple the government and the public will never accept the Congress rebels who have left."
In mounting troubles for the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh, six party rebels and three independent MLAs joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday.
All the six rebels had voted for the BJP candidate during the Rajya Sabha polls leading to Harsh Mahajan's surprise win from the hill state. Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi lost the election.
The six Congress MLAs were disqualified by the Assembly Speaker for defying a whip to be present in the House during the state's budget session. The Election Commission has already announced bypolls on the six seats which will be held on June 1 along with polling on four Lok Sabha seats.
With the disqualification of the six MLAs, the number of Congress MLAs in Himachal Pradesh has come down to 34 from 40 in the 68-member House.