The Bharatiya Janata Party said on Friday Congress leader DK Suresh has no right to remain an MP even for a minute, as it accused him of openly talking of breaking India, thus violating his oath of protecting the country's unity and sovereignty.
"Will the country's unity and sovereignty be torn into shreds for political benefits," BJP leader and former law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told a press conference in New Delhi, as he hit out at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and their INDIA bloc allies for maintaining a "conspicuous silence" over his "shameful" and "unconstitutional" comments.
Suresh, the Lok Sabha MP from Bangalore Rural and the brother of Karnataka deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, has stoked a row with his claims that injustice was being meted out to southern states in allocation of share in tax collection.
"Our tax money is being distributed to north India, if we don't condemn it there might arise a situation where we will have to demand for a separate nation," Suresh said on Thursday, commenting on the Interim Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Prasad said that before contesting an election and after winning it, anyone takes oath of allegiance to the Constitution and the country's unity and sovereignty. Karnataka is a proud part of India, he said.
"He (D K Suresh) has committed a gross impropriety as an MP by openly talking breaking up India. It is a clear violation of the constitution's main point of unity and integrity," he said. -- PTI