Cong censures Rudy for criticizing Sonia in Goa

Panaji, Aug 3: All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and MP Shantaram Naik today condemned BJP general secretary in charge of Goa, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, for charging Congress president Sonia Gandhi with destabilizing the state Government.

''It was unbecoming of Mr Rudy to make wild allegations against Mrs Gandhi, who is a dignified and mature politician of the country. Holding her responsible for the recent developments in Goa justified the title, 'Bharatiya Jhoothi Party' given to the BJP,'' Mr Naik said in a statement.

Mr Rudy's observation that Ms Gandhi was solely responsible for unconstitutional and illegal action orchestrated in the Goa Assembly that resulted in the butchering of democracy, amounts to a breach of privilege of the House as his statement has cast aspersions on the Speaker and other members of the House as well, he opined.

Mr Naik said that Mr Rudy had recently gone to the extent of appealing to the Union Home Minister to give directions to the Speaker of the Goa Assembly regarding conduct of proceedings of the House, which again constituted a breach of privilege of the House, he alleged. He demanded that since Mr Rudy has been consistently committing breach of privileges, he deserved to be summoned before the House.

Mr Rudy should understand that the Speaker did not violate the directive of the Governor by announcing his order on the disqualification petitions, before directing the Chief Minister to undertake the motion of vote of confidence as it was an independent quasi-judicial proceeding and not a part of Assembly proceedings, he pointed out.

''If the BJP General Secretary has been put in charge of Goa by his party, he should not expose his ignorance in Goa. His own state Bihar will give him ample opportunities to do that,'' Mr Naik added.

UNI