Centre using TDP and JD(U) as crutches to run the government, claims Opposition

New Delhi, Jul 2 (PTI) Opposition members on Tuesday said the "arrogance" and "vindictiveness" of BJP leaders during elections downgraded the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who now has to depend on alliance partners to provide a stable government.

Participating in the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the president's address, Trinamool Congress member Kalyan Banerjee said the recent Lok Sabha elections had ushered in a change in the country which now has "an unstable government and a strong opposition".

Banerjee said the prime minister now has to use two crutches -- Chandrababu Naidu's TDP and Nitish Kumar's JD(U) -- to run the government.

Congress leader K C Venugopal said the BJP leaders were not believers in Hinduism, but only used religion to polarise the electorate and win elections.

He said the BJP projected the prime minister as bigger than God, which was the biggest anti-Hindu statement.

"Nobody is bigger than God as per the Hindu tradition. That is why God punished you in this election," Venugopal said.

The Trinamool leader said in the last 10 years he had not heard any soft or sweet words or praise from the prime minister for the opposition or chief ministers in non-BJP states.

"In our state, you hate our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in Tamil Nadu you hate M K Stalin, in Jharkhand you hate Hemant Soren, in Delhi you hate Arvind Kejriwal, in Maharashtra you hate Uddhav Thackeray, in Uttar Pradesh you hate Akhilesh Yadav and in Karnataka Siddaramaiah," Banerjee said.

"If you are arrogant, we do not mind. Today, the time has come to oversee yourself. This arrogance, this hatred and this vindictiveness has downgraded the popularity of Narendra Modi," he said.

Banerjee said the prime minister will now have to move around the country and also abroad with two crutches. "Earlier, our prime minister had so much confidence in him, today he does not have the same confidence," the Trinamool leader said. "We don't want anything from you. We will fight and get what we want. But, we want to tell the Prime Minister to be polite towards the opposition. How can he sleep in the night with such vengeance and hatred towards the opposition," Banerjee said.

Venugopal said the mention of the words "stable" and "complete majority" government in the president's address reflected the government's insecurity.

He said the BJP's numbers in the Lok Sabha were reduced from 303 to 240 and alleged that the ruling party could muster the numbers with the clear support of the Central Bureau of Investigation, Income Tax, Enforcement Directorate and misuse of the election machinery.

"If these would not have helped you, you would have got no more than 140 seats," Venugopal said.

The Congress leader said the BJP headquarters has a washing machine to clean up corrupt people.

"They talked big about the Adarsh scam and irrigation scam. Where are the persons involved in these scams? The washing machine cleaned up all these people. Morally, we have won the election, morally you have lost the election," Venugopal said.

The Congress leader said the BJP lost elections at several places where the prime minister delivered controversial speeches. PTI