New Delhi: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on October 11 made a strong plea for stern measures to tackle the problem of defections and to ensure smaller ministries emphasising that poll reforms was key to a healthy Democracy.

Addressing a function at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters to mark the birth centenary celebrations of Jaya Prakash Narayan, he said the anti-defection law needed amendment as current provisions "do not make wholesale defections an offence but retail ones".

He said change of parties by any legislator should attract disqualification.

Though there was a rationale behind the current legislation which treats a lone legislator leaving the party as defection and recognises a split if one third of the total legislators leave, he said that the provisions were misused.

He said the Bills for amending anti-defection law and for limiting size of the Ministries to 15 per cent of the legislature were at present with the Parliamentary Standing Committees.

Noting that poll reforms were a crucial ingredient of the total revolution envisaged by Jaya Prakash, he said the BJP-led government has strived hard to bring several legislations in this regard to fulfill the dream of the Lok Nayak.

BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu attacked the Congress saying its rule saw only "one family getting all the credit" for any project like port or airport or highway and local road.

He said such an attitude led to injustice against great leaders like Sardar Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose, Jaya Prakash Narayan, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Ram Manohar Lohia.

PTI