Kharge raises Arunachal, Uttarakhand crises, Rajnath says Congress a leaky boat

The lok Sabha witnessed uproarious scenes on Tuesday after Congress floor leader Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance of trying to "destablise" Congress-led governments in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the political developments in both states were due to the "internal crisis" within the Congress party, which he likened to a boat with a hole.

Raising the issue during zero hour in the context of judgement from the Supreme Court, Kharge alleged that destabilising non-BJP governments has become "a habit" with the Narendra Modi government and added that the apex court's order should work as a "lesson" for them.

Amid protests from a number of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs, including Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, who said some of the comments made by Kharge should be expunged, the Congress leader also alleged that like in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party had tried to topple the Congress governments in Himachal Pradesh and Manipur.

Responding, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh denied that the BJP has been trying to topple the Congress party-run state governments.

"Instead of making allegations against us, they should know, since Independence if any party is singularly responsible for toppling opposition parties in the states, it is the Congress. Since Independence they (Congress party) have toppled state governments and imposed President's Rule as many as 105 times," Rajnath Singh claimed.

Rajnath said "whatever happened in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Prdesh were unfortunate" and that such developments were not good for "healthy democracy".

He, however, asserted that whatever happened in these two states was all due to "internal crisis" within the Congress party.

"We had nothing to do with that," he said and maintained that the crisis in Uttarakhand was sparked off only after nine Congress legislators stood up in the assembly and said they opposed their own government.

Similarly, he said as many as two-thirds of Congress legislators had quit the parent party and formed a separate group to form a new government in Arunachal.

Singh compared the situation of the Congress party with a boat with a hole, and said: "Jis nao mein chched hae...uska dubna taye hae (A boat with a hole is bound to sink)."

The Home Minister said in such a situation "it is pointless to blame the water for the capsizing of the boat."