New Delhi:
Reacting sharply to BJP chief Nitin Gadkari's allegation that the Congress uses the judiciary to "blackmail" the opposition, Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid said on NDTV that there has never been any doubt about the independence of the courts in India.
Mr Gadkari had earlier today said in Delhi said that there has been a "deterioration" in the judiciary in the kind of judgments it is giving and the way it is keeping some decisions on hold for long periods of time. He went on to say that it appears the UPA, particularly the Congress, has kept the judiciary under pressure, implying that it is being used for political advantage. He also said that the government uses the CBI for settling political scores. Mr Gadkari was replying to a question about Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee saying that the judiciary dances to the Congress' tunes.
The Union Law Minister said that the judiciary was totally independent and transparent in its functioning. He also said that this was evident in the judgments that courts have given, specifically pointing to the recent one on quota in promotion for SC/STs in government jobs. "We have often said why is the judiciary doing this to us," Mr Khurshid said on NDTV.
The BJP chief also took a dig at the uneasy bonhomie between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress-led UPA government, saying Lucknow
mein kushti aur Delhi
mein dosti' (sparring in Lucknow and friendship in Delhi).
"We are not trying to make the government fall. That is the UPA's problem to figure out which of their friends is with them and who isn't. Some of their friends take one stand in Delhi and another one in Lucknow. They protest against the government's policies but in Delhi rush to its rescue," Mr Gadkari said.
Reacting to the CBI broadening the scope of its investigation in coal scam to allocations made from 1993, Mr Gadkari said his party was ready for any enquiry. "Get all allocations made since 1947 investigated. The BJP has nothing to hide," he said.
Mr Gadkari's statements came just a day before the party's top decision-making body - the national executive - which will meet today. The national executive meeting will be followed by two-day meeting of the national council. All top leaders of the party are expected to attend the meetings. The meetings, at Surajkund in Haryana, come against the backdrop of the UPA government losing ally Trinamool Congress and a larger opposition unity on the issues of foreign direct investment or FDI in multi-brand retail, hike in diesel prices and cap on subidised cooking gas cylinders.
The party's immediate priority is elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat by the year-end and in Karnataka in early 2013. The BJP is in power in all the three states. The party's national meet is also expected to review its preparations for the polls next year in Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.