'Congress does not know art of running coalition Govt.': BJP

New Delhi, Mar 15 (ANI): With the UPA-II plunging into an unprecedented crisis following pressure from its allies, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday hit out the ruling Congress Party over its alleged failure to run a coalition government.

Senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu ridiculed the government over the ongoing tumultuous political situation, and said that the coalition is falling apart.

"All is not well, the ruling party members are going to the well. One day TMC (Trinamool Congress) goes into the well, the other days RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) goes, the other days DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) goes, the other days Samajwadi Party goes, therefore, all the supporters of Congress are one-by-one going into the well," said Naidu.

"This Congress party does not know the art of running a coalition," he added.

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee had written a letter to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, and asked him to remove Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi. She had also suggested the name of Mukul Roy as Trivedi's replacement.

The demand for the sacking of Dinesh Trivedi was in response to his decision to hike passenger fares without consulting Mamata Banerjee or the TMC leadership. The latter felt that the measure was an anti-poor step.

Trivedi has, however, said that no one had asked him to resign.

Naidu also commented on the recent political unrest in Uttarakhand, where the Congress High Command's decision to appoint Vijay Bahuguna as the chief minister has not gone well with senior party leader Harish Rawat.

"The development in the last few days has shown us that this government has failed and all this counts. One minister from Uttarakhand has resigned, his whereabouts are not known. One minister purported of resign, his position is not known," he said.

Congress Party had earlier on Wednesday defended its decision to select Vijay Bahuguna as Uttarakhand Chief Minister instead of senior leader Harish Rawat, saying there is no difference within the party and the matter will be solved after due consultations.

Terming the ongoing row over the appointment of Bahuguna as hype created by the media, Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said: "There is no difference within the party of any kind. This is an internal matter of the party. It is not necessary for the MLAs to be present there. It never happens that all the MLAs are present during the swearing-in-ceremony of the chief minister. This is media hype. The matter will be solved after due consultations within the party.

"I assure you everything will be normal. Vijay Bahugunaji is the new chief minister of Uttarakhand, he has taken the oath of office. The party is committed to solve the problems the people of the state faced in the last five years," he added.

Harish Rawat, who was seen as a frontrunner for the Uttarakhand chief minister's post, had earlier offered to resign from the cabinet following Bahuguna's selection for the top post.

According to reports, Rawat sent his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He had also written to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, saying that he would prefer to work as a party worker.

In the 70-member Assembly, Congress had emerged as the largest party with 32 MLAs and has the support of three independent MLAs and one from UKD. The Bahujan Samaj Party, having strength of three members, has pledged its unconditional support to Congress, raising its tally to 39. (ANI)