New Delhi:
The Congress today described as unfortunate and unbecoming BJP's move to boycott the lunch hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"The Prime Minister hosts a lunch before every session. The BJP has shown their true character by boycotting it. It is very unfortunate, unbecoming of a responsible political party," AICC general secretary-in-charge of Gujarat B K Hariprasad told reporters in New Delhi.
The party spokesperson, Abhishek Manu Singhvi said," The BJP is scaling new heights of improper conduct."
Senior BJP leaders - LK Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley - skipped a lunch hosted by the Prime Minister on Friday to record their displeasure at the CBI summoning its top Gujarat Minister Amit Shah for questioning in a criminal case. "The atmosphere is too bitter for us to lunch with the PM," Sushma Swaraj at a press conference in Delhi, slamming the government for what the BJP calls the "shameless misuse of the CBI" for political benefit.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prithviraj Chauhan rebutted these allegations saying, " The CBI works independently and works under the CVC. The Gujarat case has been referred to it by the Supreme court." "We want a free and fair enquiry on this, and it should be welcomed by all, " he added.
BK Hariprasad, however, was more scathing in his dismissal of the BJP's charges " The law is catching up with them. So they are reacting like this," he said.
This war of words comes as the CBI filed a 30,000-page chargesheet against Gujarat minister, and key Narendra Modi aide, Amit Shah, accusing him of complicity in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. Shah, through his lawyer, has applied for anticipatory bail.
(Read: CBI accuses Modi minister of complicity in Sohrabuddin case)
(With PTI Inputs)