He said Chief Justice M. M. Panchhi had acted strictly according to the constitution and made appointments after consulting two senior judges of the supreme court. The former Union Law Minister said it was now for the BJP government to disclose why it could not appoint those judges.

Bhardwaj was talking to the Indian Express after addressing a state level meeting of the Haryana legal Congress cell here today. Bhajan Lal, former Chief Minister and local MP, presided over the meet. Former MP Tara Singh, former Haryana ministers Rampal Singh and Tejinder Maan, and sitting MLA Jaswant Rana were also present, besides a large number of lawyers.

When asked if India and the media should not have ignored the sanctions because the USA, while imposing or lifting them, would act strictly in accordance with its own national interest, Bhardwaj replied that the sanctions had hurt India a great deal and foreign direct investment had almost totally stopped. He advised the government to approach the WTO if it considered the sanctions illegal.

He said the best course would have been to take steps to meet the challenge posed by the sanctions. Bhardwaj deplored that the government had not taken any concrete steps in that direction.

Bhardwaj advised the government to approach the NAM countries to minimise the impact of sanctions. Under the previous Congress government, India had excellent relations with them, he said.

Earlier, while addressing the Congress lawyers, Bhardwaj lamented that the party had today distanced itself from the poor and the common people. He told the participants to work unitedly and selflessly for the party' return to power because only the Congress could save the country from disintegration at this juncture.

Bhardwaj mounted a blistering attack on the BJP government, which, he said, had distorted the meaning of secularism by portraying it as ``non religion''. The Congress ideology was under attack and the party had to raise its voice in Parliament to invoke a ban on Godse's play, he said. He said the Pokhran tests had lowered the country's credibility abroad and invited hardships upon it.

About Haryana, he said that universities had become places of goondaism and and a vice-chancellor was beaten up and humiliated. He said that by setting up Congress legal cells, he had made sure that Congressmen were not persecuted in Punjab, Andhra or Tamil Nadu. Only Bhajan Lal was capable of uniting the people and restoring power to Congress in Haryana, he said.

Vijayander Thakur, chairman, Haryana legal cell, Darshan Bishnoi, former additional secretary, Vidhan Sabha, Rajinder Singh, chairman Karnal zila parishad, O. P. Malik from Ambala and Shanti Ranga were among the delegates who addressed the meeting.