Congress created situation that forced us to bring bill on simultaneous polls: Nadda

Rajya Sabha Leader of the House JP Nadda attacked the Congress on Tuesday for amending the Constitution for its own benefit and alleged that its past actions of "toppling governments" in states led to staggered polls, creating the necessity for 'One Nation One Election' bill.

Participating in a debate in the Upper House on the "Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India", the BJP president accused the Congress of practising politics of appeasement and attempting to bring in religion-based reservations, a charge which was vociferously contested by the opposition party.

The BJP president also spoke about the Emergency, rejecting the Congress' claim of having apologised for it. Nadda said if the Congress regrets the step, it should join in observing 'Samvidhan Hatya Divas' on June 25 next year, the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency.

The BJP leader quoted B R Ambedkar to say "however good a Constitution may be, if those who are implementing it are not good, it will prove to be bad", and added that the "bad lot has interfered with the Constitution many times".

On a day when two bills that lay down the mechanism to hold simultaneous elections were introduced in the Lok Sabha after a fiery debate, Nadda blamed the Congress for creating a situation that forced the government to take this step.

"We have to bring the One Nation One Election bill because you toppled elected government in states, and elections had to be held," Nadda said.