Ramdas Attawal said he would resign if anyone tried to change the constitution.
Gondia:
Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Atharwal dismissed the Congress party’s allegations that the Narendra Modi-led National Development Alliance government plans to amend the constitution.
Atharwal, a prominent Dalit leader in Maharashtra and an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, said on Tuesday he would resign if attempts were made to change the constitution.
The minister, who heads the Republican Party of India (Athawale), is here to campaign against Sunil Mendhe, the ruling alliance candidate for the Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha seat.
“Since there is nothing wrong with the current NDA government led by Modi, the Congress and other opposition parties are trying to mislead people by claiming that if this government wins more than 400 seats, the constitution will be changed. Their accusations are completely baseless… …If the government makes any such attempt, I will resign from the cabinet and withdraw my support to the BJP,” he said.
Atharwal added that Prime Minister Modi is a “visionary” who is working for the progress of the country.
Notably, BJP MP Anant Kumar Hegde recently said the party needs a two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament to amend the constitution and “correct the distortions and unnecessary additions made by Congress to the constitution “.
The BJP later moved to quell the controversy over Hegde’s remarks, calling them his “personal views” and seeking clarification from him.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
