Friday, November 25 2005 15:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) persistent demand for the resignation of Sonia Gandhi and Natwar Singh and disruption of proceedings in Parliament will only open the doors for the establishment of a 'dictatorial rule' in the country, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) President M Karunanidhi said here today (Nov 25, 2005).

Condemning the stalling of proceedings by the BJP-led opposition over the Volcker Committee report, he said, "It is totally unacceptable for the opposition, which had decided to stall the proceedings on the strength of an unexpected win, achieved on flimsy grounds, and use that win as a weapon to defeat democracy," he said in a statement, in an obvious reference to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) win in the Bihar Assembly elections.

"Those, who were disrupting parliamentary proceedings, were answerable to the people. MPs, who were expected to spend their time and energy on displaying their debating skills, were indulging in disrupting the proceedings, "he said.

"Will the present tendency of putting democracy in a coffin lead to future Governments thinking of taking away the powers of parliament, paving the way for opening the doors to a dictatorial regime," he asked and cautioned the opposition against giving room for such a chance.

The BJP leaders' stand that they would disrupt proceedings till Sonia Gandhi and Natwar Singh resigned would not help in solving the issue, Karunanidhi said.

"When the Government was ready for a debate on the issue, which had been clearly indicated by the Prime Minister's media adviser Sanjay Baru and Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi, the opposition should debate it in a peaceful manner and hear the government's version," he said.

"The Government's intention of facing the issue in the house was clear with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi sitting in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha respectively," he said.

He said the BJP's present 'anti-Government campaign' had exceeded all the 'false publicity campaign of India shines.'

"It looks like that they are determined to disrupt and drive away the present coalition Government in order to build the Ram Temple," he said.

Demanding resignation of ministers on the basis of some allegations would only set a wrong precedent, he said and asked whether the NDA Government had a set a precedent like this.