BANGALORE, Jun 21 (Express India): Union Minister for Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu on Friday advised political appointees across the country to quit gracefully. He was reacting to allegations of ‘assault’ on governors in the country.
“It is in the interest of the system that political appointees go with the political establishment. There is no need to make this a controversial issue. If they were elected representatives, it would be a different matter. However, it is not and the best way forward is to resign voluntarily and respectably,” he said.
Asked if the BJP would refrain from making political appointments, Naidu said there was no such mandate from the country and if the country decided that political appointments should be stopped, then the BJP government would follow that.
Replying to questions about two governors being questioned in the AugustaWestland chopper deal, Naidu indicated that this was inevitable. “If the investigating officers believe there needs to be questioning, they have to be questioned,” he said, adding that this cannot constitute an ‘assault’ as is being proclaimed by the Congress.
Naidu clarified that when it comes to development, politics should be kept out. “Politics should be limited to politics and not affect the governance of a state or country,” he said.
When asked about the Anti-corruption Bill which Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had proposed on the eve of the general elections, Naidu said the Congress had nine years, nine months and 29 days to get the bill passed, but did nothing. “We do not need their advice on the matter considering they slept on it all these years. Dealing with corruption is on the agenda and we have begun with the black money issue,” Naidu said.On the Congress protesting about rising inflation, Naidu quipped that Congress was in power for nine years and did nothing about it. “I request the Congress to be gracious in its defeat and accept the people’s mandate,” he said.
He clarified that the controversy surrounding the advisory on Hindi was unfounded. “We are not trying to thrust the language on anybody. As home minister, Rajnath Singh only asked people to consider using Hindi as a medium of communication. We want to promote regional languages. However, Hindi is also our national language and we have to understand that,” Naidu said.
Joshi, Shettar Defend Decision
Hubli: State BJP president Prahlad Joshi and opposition leader in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar on Friday defended the decision of the Union Government to replace the governors of a few states. Addressing reporters on Friday, Joshi criticised the Congress leaders for objecting to the proposal to change the governors, reminding them how the UPA government did the same in 2004. “The UPA government had changed the governors appointed during the NDA regime without providing them an opportunity to resign,” he said.
Joshi took exception to the appointment of Congress leader C M Ibrahim as the deputy chairman of the State Planning Board.
He urged the state government to share 50 per cent cost of the railway projects being implemented in the state as done during the BJP regime.