BJP, CPI-M, JD(U) taking mileage on Lokpal issue: Pranab Mukherjee

Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee today accused the BJP, CPI-M and JD(U) of trying to gain political mileage out of the Lokpal Bill issue by assessing the civil society's outburst as an attack on the Congress.

"When Anna Hazare was on fast, the CPI-M politburo and the BJP supported him. A JD(U) leader even went on dharna. They thought it was an attack on the Congress and they could take political mileage out of it. But it is an attack on the parliamentary system and the democratic process," the Finance Minister told a WBPCC rally here.

"Their aim is to use undemocratic means as they cannot win the elections," the senior Congress leader claimed.

Taking a dig at BJP for supporting yoga guru Ramdev's fast, he said, "in the recent Assembly elections in five states, the BJP got only five seats in Assam. They got no seat in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and in West Bengal, they came second only in one of the 294 seats. So, the party thought it must hog the limelight by bringing in the babas and bibis."

The CPI-M was "somewhat confused" after losing the Assembly elections in Kerala and West Bengal, Mukherjee said sarcastically.

"Since the Communists first organised themselves in India in 1920, they are yet to come of age. That is why, they still take baby steps by sometimes holding the little finger of Sonia Gandhi and sometimes holding the thumb of the BJP," the union minister said.

Recalling that a Communist minister of Kerala had said in 1957 "we will wreck the Constitution from within", he said, "they could not do it. So now, they have joined Hazare."