But for Lok Sabha results, govt would have changed Constitution: Priyanka in maiden LS speech

New Delhi, Dec 13: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday said had it not been for the Lok Sabha election results, in which the BJP scraped through to victory, the government would have started work on changing the Constitution.

Participating in a debate on the Constitution in the Lok Sabha, she said the Constitution was a protective shield of justice, unity and freedom of expression but the government made every effort to break it during the past 10 years.

"This government is working to weaken the reservation policy through lateral entry and privatisation. Had the Lok Sabha election results not come as they have, the government would have started the work on changing the Constitution," Gandhi said.

"The truth is that they are chanting 'Constitution' because they realised that the people of this country will keep the Constitution alive," said the Lok Sabha member from Wayanad.

She said the people were demanding a caste-based census and even the ruling party was talking about it because of the election results.

"When the entire opposition called for a caste-based census, they talked about cattle and 'mangalsutra' getting stolen," the Congress MP said in an apparent reference to the Lok Sabha election campaign.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 293 seats in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. The BJP won 240 seats on its own against the halfway mark of 272.