BJP's alliance politics is falling apart: Sibal
October 01, 2020  20:15
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Taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party over its oldest ally Shiromani Akali Dal breaking ties with it on the farm bills issue, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Thursday said the saffron party's alliance politics was "falling apart" over legislations and the ruling National Democratic Alliance has turned into a "non-democratic alliance".
 
Sibal, who was among the 23 leaders who wrote to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi calling for organisational reforms, also slammed Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman for recently alluding to the letter writers and their alleged undermining of the party, saying, "The Congress still has space for people to express concerns, while the BJP has no such space".
 
Sibal alleged that the BJP got the farm bills passed while riding "roughshod over the Opposition and (its own) allies".
 
"Shiromani Akali Dal, probably the oldest alliance partner of the BJP, has broken away sensing the disquiet in the farming community and now Dushyant Chautala is feeling the heat of continuing with the BJP-led government in Haryana," the former Union minister said.
 
The BJP's "politics of alliance is falling apart" over the farm bills issue and the NDA has become a "non-democratic alliance", Sibal told PTI in an interview.
 
"Farmers are out on streets not only because of what the Congress is saying but because they feel strongly about the possibility of losing out on getting the MSP (minimum support price)," he said.
 
Sibal said the BJP always tries to gain a foothold in states where its presence is limited and afterwards "dumps" its allies.
 
"When they realise that they have gained a foothold, they are brazen enough to tell their alliance partners that 'we don't need you now'. That is why the Shiv Sena broke away and that is why the SAD broke away," Sibal said.
 
"Sukhbir Singh Badal said there is no consultation (in the NDA). So there is no NDA, there is only the BJP sitting over the NDA and lording over it," he alleged, also pointing to the seat-sharing issues NDA is facing in Bihar.
Asked about Sitharaman's remarks in a recent newspaper interview alluding to the 23 letter writers and implying an alleged undermining of Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad by the Congress, Sibal said, "She understands undermining of roles better than we do because the PM has undermined everyone in the Cabinet". -- PTI
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