Indira Gandhi had lifted Emergency, apologised for excesses: Congress
New Delhi, July 15 : Congress on Sunday said it was former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who had herself lifted the Emergency and apologised for the excesses committed during it.
"It was Indira Gandhi who had said that it was a painful and difficult position for her given that situation and circumstances. It was she who regretted and apologised for any excess committed," said Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma reacting to the BJP, who said freedom of expression was curbed the most during the Emergency after Congress President Rahul Gandhi accused it and the RSS of believing freedom of expression must be "policed".
"It was Indira Gandhi who lifted the Emergency and ensured free and fair elections. She accepted the verdict of the people with humility and respect in an election in which she herself lost," he said.
"The Congress was defeated and the people then saw Indira Gandhi's persecution and victimisation. Let's not forget that Indira Gandhi was re-elected to the Lok Sabha within days of frivolous charges in the Privileges Committee, which was totally controlled by her opponents.
"She was expelled from Lok Sabha and sent to the Tihar jail. That led to a national outrage and in election of 1980, people brought her back," he added.
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New govt in Maharashtra to be formed on Dec 5, Fadnavis frontrunner for CM post: BJP leader
Mumbai (PTI): Mahayuti alliance's new government in Maharashtra will be formed on December 5 with Devendra Fadnavis emerging as the frontrunner to become the next chief minister again, a senior BJP leader said on Saturday.
In the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls, the Mahayuti alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) retained power, pocketing a whopping 230 of the 288 assembly seats. The BJP emerged as the single largest party, winning 132 seats, followed by Shiv Sena with 57 and NCP with 41 seats.
However, even after the announcement of poll results a week ago (on November 23), the formation of the government has been delayed as the tripartite alliance is yet to decide on who will be the next chief minister. Shinde, Fadnavis and Pawar met BJP president J P Nadda and Union minister Amit Shah late Thursday to discuss a power-sharing pact for the next government.
A key Mahayuti meeting scheduled on Friday was put off and likely to take place on Sunday now as caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde headed to his native village in Satara district, delaying government formation further.
The BJP leader, who did not wish to be quoted, said the swearing-in of the new government will take place on December 5.
Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who was the chief minister twice and deputy chief minister in the last government, is the frontrunner for the top post, the leader said.
Another senior BJP leader said the chief minister's swearing-in ceremony will take place at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.
But before that, a meeting will be held on December 2 to pick the BJP legislature party leader, he said.
Caretaker CM Shinde has made it clear that he will fully support BJP leadership's decision to name the next CM, and that he won't be a hurdle in the process, while Ajit Pawar-led NCP has backed Fadnavis for the chief minister's post.
In the assembly elections, Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a setback. The grand old party registered one of its worst performances in the state assembly polls after it won only 16 seats. Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) could bag only 10 seats, whereas Uddhav Thackeray's (UBT) won 20.
