The Rashtriya Janata Dal on Monday asked Rahul Gandhi to look at recent electoral history of regional parties putting up a strong fight against the BJP as it took a swipe at him for his critical comments aimed at them, saying the Congress leader’s claims were “bizarre” and not in sync with his own party’s stand.
In his address at his party’s “Chintan Shivir” (brainstorming camp) in Udaipur, Gandhi had claimed that regional parties cannot fight the BJP and the RSS as they lack ideology. The Congress can fight them, he had said
To this, RJD spokesperson Manoj Kumar Jha said Gandhi will revise his statement if he looks at data. “I find it a little bizarre and out of sync,” Rajya Sabha MP Jha told PTI.
Jha said it was the RJD which was at the receiving end of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attack during elections as it was at the nucleus of the electoral and ideological fight against the BJP. From RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav to Tejashwi Yadav, hundreds of RJD leaders and workers have suffered due to the party’s ideological commitment in the fight against the BJP, he claimed.
Meanwhile, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy also took a swipe at the grand old party leader for his critical comments saying that Congress is facing a phobia of regional parties.
In an apparent sarcastic note, he asked the former Congress president to elaborate to regional parties about ideological commitment, while saying that the national party has no presence in most parts of the country.
Noting that Rahul Gandhi claims that Congress alone has the strength to defeat the BJP, Kumaraswamy said he (Rahul) should not forget that his party enjoyed power for 10 years on the strength of regional parties.
“Is joining hands (with BJP) for the immoral operation ‘Lotus’ through the back door, after coming to our (JD-S) door with an alliance proposal and forming a coalition government with us, an ideological commitment? Is destroying alliance partners ideology-based politics?” he further questioned the Congress.
As 2018 polls threw up a hung verdict, Congress and JD(S), which fought elections separately, joined hands to form a coalition government in Karnataka under the leadership of Kumaraswamy.
However, the government fell after 14 months due to dissidence within, and with MLAs from both parties resigning and joining the BJP. Stating that Congress is facing a phobia of regional parties, Kumaraswamy said, “It has no presence in most of the States like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha. Congress is in its last days in Karnataka. It will be better if Rahul Gandhi understands that.”
(With PTI inputs)
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