“During the last three months, some tough decisions were taken and the main aim was to enforce the rule of law”
IANS/Hyderabad
The Congress Party yesterday ruled out early general elections saying the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government would complete its five-year term.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari told reporters here that elections would be held in 2014 and that the Congress-led UPA government would complete its term.
Tewari, who is also the spokesperson of the party, was responding to Bharatiya Janata Party leader M Venkaiah Naidu’s claim that the ruling coalition was planning to call early elections.
Naidu said yesterday that the people were looking at the BJP-led coalition as the best alternative to the ruling alliance.
However, the minister said the internal security situation today was better than what the UPA inherited from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). He claimed that the UPA strengthened communal harmony.
Tewari said the government did not hesitate to take tough decisions on national security. “During the last three months, some tough decisions were taken and the main aim was to enforce the rule of law and give a clear message that if anybody tries to challenge India’s unity and integrity, he would be dealt with firmly,” he said in an obvious reference to the hangings of terrorists Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru.
Kasab was hanged in November last year for his role in the Mumbai terror attacks.
Guru, the main plotter of the parliament attack, was executed on Saturday.
Congress leaders meanwhile said the hanging of Guru has nullified the BJP’s tirade against the ruling party.
“The BJP’s charges against us won’t stand now. The BJP used to criticise the Congress on its handling of terrorism. But its own government could not take the decision,” said a senior Congress leader who did not wish to be named.
According to party sources, the move will also help the Congress counter the BJP in the run-up to next year’s general elections, especially Gujarat Chief Minister Narnendra Modi, who is seen as the main contender for the opposition party’s prime ministerial nominee.
A belligerent BJP, which vowed not to allow the parliament to run until Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde apologised for his controversial “Hindu terror” remark, suddenly finds itself groping for a political issue to corner the government after Guru’s hanging.
Shinde is leader of the House in the Lok Sabha.
The BJP had been attacking the Congress demanding Guru’s hanging to score political points over the past years.
Now, the Congress can embarrass the BJP on the release of three terrorists in an Indian Airlines plane hijack in December 1999, said a senior leader.
“People will judge the BJP by what it says and does. The government has to be responsive all the time,” said another senior Congress leader.
Even as the BJP top brass is brainstorming how to keep itself relevant as the main opposition party, the UPA government can hope the parliament would transact some business.
The government wants to pass some key economic reforms bills, the anti-corruption legislation Lokpal, food security bill and the anti-rape ordinance in the budget session, scheduled to start on February 21.