Lucknow, Jan 20 (IANS) Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government of trying to "murder democracy" and alleged that the Election Commission of India (ECI) had taken a unilateral and biased decision to recommend disqualification of its 20 legislators. He said the party will go to court against the "unjust decision".
Addressing a press conference in the state capital, Singh, who has also been named a party candidate for the Rajya Sabha, said the decision of the poll panel was one-sided as the appointment letter given to 20 lawmakers of the AAP specifically said that the office of the Parliamentary Secretary was not an office of profit.
"In 2006, the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government gave office of profit to 19 party legislators, Haryana has four Parliamentary Secretaries, Punjab also has such an office, Himachal Pradesh has 11 such offices and similar situation is there in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh too," Singh claimed. He pointed out that the Delhi High Court has quashed the appointments and did not cancel membership of any legislator.
"EC is acting as a poll agent of the BJP," he said.
According to Singh, if the resignation of anybody should be sought in this case, it should be of Prime Minister Modi under whose tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister, Parliamentary Secretaries were appointed and they were given the status of Deputy Ministers and all facilities and perks were given to them.
He slammed the Congress for demanding Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's resignation and said the party will cite the examples of other states in the court while voicing its opinion and protest on the matter.
