BJP hits back at Rahul for his remarks on Advani

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 6

The BJP on Saturday hit back at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his remarks on its senior leader LK Advani.

After External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who asked Rahul to mind his language while referring to Advani, her Cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal also hits out at the Congress chief.

Goyal said it was sad that someone who hopes to be the Prime Minister of the country had no control over his vaani (voice). “His remarks have revealed “two faces” of the Congress. They say something and do something else,” he said.

Goyal said senior leaders Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi will continue to guide the BJP to take it to the next level

Invoking Chandikadas Amritrao Deshmukh, also known as Nanaji Deshmukh, who retired from active politics to take up social work, he said the BJP had leaders like him to look up to and it was sad that the Congress could not instil even basic courtesy in its leaders like Rahul Gandhi, who publicly tore up a document cleared by its very own Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.

“That’s the kind of respect they have for their seniors,” Goyal said.

Addressing a press conference, Goyal also dug out “unfulfilled promises” made by the Congress party in its past manifestos to claim that the promises made by the Opposition party in its 2019 pre-poll deceleration will never be fulfilled. It is a bundle of lies, he said, referring to the Congress manifesto.

Earlier in the day, Sushma Swaraj said Congress president’s words have hurt the party and added that the veteran BJP leader was like a “father figure”.

“Rahulji - Advani ji is our father figure. Your words have hurt us deeply. Please try to maintain some decorum of your speech,” she tweeted, both in English as well as Hindi, a day after Rahul Gandhi attacked PM Narendra Modi for “humiliating” LK Advani

BJP leaders also sought to remind the “treatment” meted by the Congress to its senior leaders PV Narsimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri. 

Speaking at a rally, Gandhi said “the BJP talks of Hinduism. In Hinduism, the guru is supreme. It talks of guru-shishya tradition. Who is Modi’s guru? Advani. Modi just kicked Advani out”

Meanwhile, BSP supremo Mayawati has said that veteran LK Advani blog was a “reality check admonition on the functioning of the BJP/Modi govt on the party’s foundation day”.

“BJP patriarch LK Advani’s reality check admonition on the functioning of the BJP/Modi govt on the party’s foundation day is a serious no-confidence against them besides a fervent appeal to the people that this despotic/anti-people Modi Govt is unworthy of returning back to power,” she tweeted

The BJP is observing its foundation day today.

Meanwhile, the BJP ally Shiv Sena has questioned the timing of Advani’s blog, asking why the veteran remained silent for past five years.