Withdrawal of ordinance is strangulation of democracy: Ramdev

A day after the Union cabinet withdrew a controversial ordinance on convicted lawmakers it had earlier cleared, yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Thursday termed the decision as "strangulation of democracy" as it was effected after condemnation by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

"After Rahul Gandhi's rejection of the ordinance on convicted lawmakers, the UPA took back the ordinance which was earlier cleared by the Dr Manmohan Singh-led Cabinet...It's a clear-cut strangulation of democracy...It indicates that not the UPA but the mother and son are running the country," said Ramdev without taking names of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Ramdev claimed that Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government will bite the dust in the 2014 elections and Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance will form the government at the Centre.

"Narendra Modi and the NDA will win more than 300 seats in next year's Lok Sabha polls whereas the Congress-led UPA will be reduced to 100 seats," Ramdev said.

He said the Congress will be decimated and become "history" after the 2013 assembly and 2014 Lok Sabha elections due to massive corruption under its watch.

"During over 60 years of its rule, the Congress has done nothing except looting the country," he said.

Ramdev alleged the Congress was specifically targeting Modi because of the formidable challenge he is posing to the Congress as Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial nominee, besides targeting RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and himself. “The Congress is defaming Modi and presenting him as an offender and a terrorist by illegally dragging his name in several cases. Even I am being implicated in cases of tax evasion and others," Ramdev alleged.

Ramdev alleged that the UPA government at Centre could be behind his "illegal" detention at Heathrow airport in London recently.