IANS/New Delhi
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley yesterday attacked the Congress, saying the "Gandhis are under siege" and that the ruling party appears to be getting "more and more desperate."
Commenting on media reports that Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wanted to contest against the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi, Jaitley in his blog wrote that the family charisma has faded away.
"The Gandhis are under siege. The situation is akin to what happened to Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi in the run up to the 1977 general elections. Economic populism did not work. The family charisma has faded away," Jaitley wrote.
"But a party which is merely a crowd around a family probably felt that the current leader in the family has not clicked," he added.
Jaitley, the BJP candidate from Amritsar, suggested the real solution to the problem is to make Congress a more structured party.
"The Congress Party solution is if one incumbent in the family fails, the alternative can only be another member of the family... I only wish the desperate solution of Varanasi had been actually implemented. The country now needs the myth of the other family member also to be exploded," Jaitley wrote.
Further targeting the party over reports suggesting the Congress has asked its chief ministers to either win seats or face replacement, Jaitley wrote that if the reports were true, they only confirm "how far cut off from reality the Congress has been."
"Two national papers carry reports about what is happening within the Congress. The first report suggested the desperation was so high that in order to confine Modi, Priyanka Gandhi had agreed to contest Varanasi seat against the Gujarat chief minister. Another paper reports the Congress chief ministers have been told that if you cannot win seats, you will be replaced," the BJP leader wrote.
Jaitley added if the Congress loses, it is not because of its chief ministers, but due to the government it ran.
"The problem is not with the Congress chief ministers. If the Congress loses, it is not because of its chief ministers. It is squarely because of the quality of government they ran and the non-inspirational personality of Rahul Gandhi. When the problem is within the family, why is the Congress looking for scapegoats outside?" Jaitley wrote.
Meanwhile in Chennai, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi denounced Modi for saying that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the DMK were taking Tamil Nadu's people for granted.
Modi made the remarks at an election rally here. The Gujarat chief minister added that the two Tamil parties were not bothered about people's welfare.
Karunanidhi told reporters that Modi's comments were enough for the BJP to earn the "Tamil people's displeasure."
Modi also told the rally that people should vote for the six-party alliance that includes the BJP in Tamil Nadu.
Asked about Modi's meeting with Rajnikanth and the actor’s comments that the chief minister was an able administrator, the DMK chief said: "No comments."
In other developments, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said the United Progressive Alliance government has done a good job in uplifting the living conditions of the minorities.
"We have formulated policies to provide higher education to youth, especially the girls, by giving them scholarships under the Maulana Azad Foundation," she said while addressing an election rally in Moradabad , Uttar Pradesh.
"The Congress has always worked for social and economic development of the backward class and will continue to do so," Gandhi said.
The Congress has provided free treatment and medicines to the poor, she said.
Gandhi said more police stations would be opened with 25% of women police officers as stated in the Congress manifesto if the party came to power.
Amarinder sues Swamy
Congress candidate from Amritsar, Amarinder Singh, yesterday served legal notice on Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy for his allegations that the former Punaj chief minister’s wife and son had foreign bank accounts which had not been stated in election affidavits.
Charging Swamy with carrying out a malicious propaganda, Singh, in the notice through his lawyer, asked Swamy to tender a public and unconditional apology withdrawing and clarifying the allegations. Swamy had alleged Singh’s family members had foreign bank accounts and said these details were not mentioned in the affidavit filed by him with the nomination papers.
The notice also asked Swamy to cease and desist from issuing any similar statements against him. Singh is locked in a bitter, high-profile electoral contest with senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley.
