Cong accused of futile ploys to topple govts

Ranchi, Sep 12: Exuding confidence to get through September 14 floor test for the Arjun Munda government, BJP's crisis manager Venkiah Naidu today accused the Congress of plotting for President's Rule in Jharkhand and also conspiring to come to power through backdoor.

Later in the afternoon, at a joint press conference in presence of the Chief Minister and party's state president Yadunath Pandey, Mr Naidu said since Independence the Congress had unsuccessfully attempted 105 times to topple various governments but it never learnt from their failures.

Mr Naidu also referred to the cases in Goa and Bihar as the latest references to substantiate his points, saying the Congress, playing the major role in bringing unrest into the NDA government in the state would not be successful this time too.

The BJP leader remained tightlipped about the party's strategy to win the confidence in the House and only said the party with its major ally JD (U) would sail through the trial of strength on the day.

He said the four Ministers, who resigned from the Munda government reducing it to a minority, simply slipped into the Congress trick.

Recalling the the episode that took place 18 months back while the Arjun Munda government came to power after the Supreme Court intervention, he said the Governor initially defying the public mandate for the NDA had tried to see the UPA in the saddle, which lasted only for ten days.

At that time, Mr Lalu Prasad also exerted lot of pressure not to allow the NDA a chance to prove majority, which earned the government countrywide criticism forcing the Apex court to intervene.

UNI