UTTAN (MAHARASHTRA): Bharatiya Janata Party president L.K. Advani on Sunday hit back at Railway Minister Lalu Yadav for levelling charges against the Election Commission and seeking the resignation of two Election Commissioners.

"Even in the Lok Sabha a member is not allowed to criticise the Election Commission and the judiciary unless on the motion of impeachment and no person should be allowed to do so, much less a member of the Government," Mr. Advani said.

The BJP president was making concluding remarks at a training workshop for ministers of the BJP-ruled States on administration and governance organised at the Sangh Parivar's Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini.

Mr. Advani did not name the Railway Minister or defend himself.

Mr. Lalu Prasad had said that the two election commissioners, B.B. Tandon and N. Gopalaswamy, had sought to countermand the Chapra poll at Mr. Advani's behest.

Mr. Advani drew a parallel between the events leading to the Emergency in 1975 and those taking place in Parliament now. "The roots of the Emergency lay in this kind of vindictiveness towards the Opposition then," he claimed. At that time also, he said, the Congress and the Communist parties were together and "the Communists, like the Congress, do not believe in the Opposition."

He recalled editorials in the pro-ruling party paper of that time, the National Herald, advocating replacement of the multi-party system with the single-party system. "The same attitude has developed," he said. His view was that the incidents in Goa and Jharkhand were significant in this context.

Of about 98 ministers of five BJP-ruled states, 83 attended the three-day workshop. Mr. Advani urged the BJP ministers to be role models and strive for efficient service to the people, unblemished reputation and accessibility.

Opportunity for BJP

With the governments in five states and coalition partnership in two — Orissa and Nagaland — the BJP had the opportunity to prove to the people that the party was committed to clean administration, probity in public life, rapid development, poverty eradication and people's participation in governance, he said.

The BJP president hailed the workshop. In a knowledge-driven society only a learning organisation would excel and said that the BJP was a learning organisation.

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