New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday lashed out at Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for his “party theft” accusation at the former, accusing him of not knowing the history of Congress, from which the NCP and Trinamool Congress had split.
Earlier in the day, LoP Gandhi, said: “First, it was Shiv Sena, then NCP, and now Trinamool Congress. Every time, the same pattern. BJP and the Election Commission join forces to split a party. Then its election symbol is snatched away.”
He made the remarks while backing the Trinamool Congress faction led by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
“Vote theft. Government theft. Now party theft too. These have become symbols of our democratic decline,” the Leader of Opposition had said.
Addressing a press conference, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said: “Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who is perpetually restless, has so far been perceived as someone who knows nothing about the country, society, culture or religion. But today, he made a remarkable tweet. It seems he does not even know much about his own party either.”
“While accusing the BJP, he does not realise which parties he is referring to. Rahul Gandhi, can you not even read enough to know that NCP stands for Nationalist Congress Party and broke away from Congress? The name Trinamool Congress itself contains ‘Congress’. Sharad Pawar separated from the Congress Party in 1999 over the issue of leadership of foreign origin. But the heir of foreign origin, Rahul Gandhi ji does not even know the roots of his own party,” he remarked.
Sharpening his attack, Trivedi said: “For the first time, we are witnessing a leader who doesn’t even read what he writes. While writing the words ‘NCP’ and ‘Trinamool Congress’, he failed to comprehend that all these allegations end up pointing straight back at the Congress.”
Referring to the purported rift within the Rajasthan Congress, the BJP leader said: “Just three years ago, Ashok Gehlot was slated to become the National President. And just two to three months ago, Gehlot gave a statement saying that he was not allowed to become the Congress National President. He was finished off…the one who was about to become the National President ended up in the rebel camp.”
He further asked: “When the Janata Party government was formed, who betrayed Chaudhary Charan Singh? It is a singular example in India’s history where Chaudhary ‘sahab’ was given support, only to have it withdrawn before he could even face a session of Parliament!”
Moreover, while accusing Rahul Gandhi of not knowing the history of his own party, Sudhanshu Trivedi said: “Leave aside LoP, he does not deserve to be a Congress leader.”
