Maintaining that the nomination of a “divisive” leader like Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate will help the UPA to return to power for a third term, the Congress on Sunday accused that the saffron poster boy is “desperate” to grab the top job in the country.
The Congress leaders even went on to suggest that the BJP had committed “political suicide” by nominating Mr Modi as the PM candidate. This has happened particularly after leaders like Atal Behari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani were rejected by the people of the country, they added.
Criticising Mr Modi for his “I, me, myself” style of functioning, Congress leaders also reminded that unlike the Gujarat chief minister, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi takes everybody along and delegates responsibilities while not offending any section.
Terming Mr Modi’s ambition as a pipe dream, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said, “...That shows that he is delusional, he is desperate. I can say that with certainty that he will always be speaking from the ramparts of replicas and not from the real Red Fort and not address the real Parliament that is for sure because that misfortune will never visit people of India.”
Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyyar said the BJP will significantly contribute to the formation of the UPA-III by deciding to project “so divisive a person as Modi”. He (Mr Modi) is so divisive that even his own party ranks are riven with dissent over his choice. In the nation as a whole, he has polarised the conflict between communal and secular forces. But if the BJP chooses like lemmings to commit political suicide who are we to object.”
Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed said, “People of the country rejected Vajpayee after six years. Advani was also made the BJP candidate but people of the country rejected him and made him sit at home. Maximum dispute on Modi’s name has come from BJP itself. The country will witness what happens to him in 2014.”
Another Congress leader Rashid Alvi said under directions of the RSS, the BJP announced Mr Modi as the PM candidate despite opposition from various senior leaders.
Comparing Rahul Gandhi’s working style and personality to that of Mr Modi, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh attacked the Gujarat chief minister saying he harps on “main, main, main (I, me, myself)”.