Pune: Highest number of amendments during Congress rule, BJP won’t change the Constitution: Madhav Bhandari

Pune: BJP Senior Vice-President Madhav Bhandari on Sunday alleged that the highest number of amendments to the Constitution were made during the Congress rule. Breaking and changing of the constitutional framework was done from the time of Pt Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi.

Bhandari was speaking in a press conference organised by the Maha Yuti in the city. Maha Yuti Co-ordinator Sandeep Khardekar, BJP City Unit Vice-President Prashant Harsule, Shyam Satpute and Pushkar Tuljapurkar were present.

Bhandari said, “The Congress has launched a false campaign that the BJP would change the Constitution. In fact, the Congress has changed its framework. The Constitution of India was adopted on November 26, 1949. It has been amended 105 times in the past 74 years.

“The highest number of amendments (75) were done in the 56 years of rule of the Congress. Out of these, 17 were affected during Pt Nehru’s period, 29 amendments were made during Indira Gandhi’s rule while 10 amendments were carried out during Rajiv Gandhi’s time. Thus, 56 amendments were done during the Nehru-Gandhi Parivar rule.

“As many as 10 amendments were made during PM Narasimha Rao’s tenure and six amendments were executed during Manmohan Singh’s rule.

“The amendments made during the former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s period extended the period and scope of various social reservations. Vajpayee effected two important amendments, namely – the 86th to grant the Right To Education (RTE) to all and the 91st to restrict the number of council of ministers at the Centre and in the states. The RTE has helped expand the base of education. The restriction on the number of ministers has kept the size of the council of ministers within a reasonable limit.”