Headlines
Congress targets Modi after BJP takes jibe at Rahul
New Delhi/Bengaluru, April 3
With the BJP
taking potshots over "leave of absence" taken by Congress vice chief
Rahul Gandhi, the Congress on Friday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra
Modi accusing him of ignoring senior leaders of his party, including
L.K. Advani.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Modi
and Bharatiya Janta Party president Amit Shah should focus on "real
issues" at the party's national executive meeting being held in
Bengaluru.
"Instead of brainstorming on real issues, they seem to
be doing a brain-washing session. We would like to ask them to remember
their own self-professed culture and regard for the elders," Surjewala
told IANS.
He said Advani had "protected" Modi in 2002 from being
relegated to "dustbins of history" when then prime minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee had "wanted to remove him (Modi) as chief minister".
"Having
secured power in Delhi, the same Modi has relegated the party's
patriarchs including his own saviour Advani and the entire ilk of
(senior) BJP leadership to the dustbins of political history," Surjewala
said.
Earlier at the BJP's national executive in Bengaluru,
Shah took a jibe at the Congress, suggesting it should locate its
"missing leader" instead of finding faults with the ruling party.
Speaking
in the presence of Modi and Advani among others, the BJP president
said: "The opposition is disappointed and therefore is finding flaws in
the BJP that are not even there.
"Instead of finding flaws with
us, they should find where their leader (Rahul Gandhi) is," Shah was
quoted by BJP leader Prakash Javadekar as saying.
Retorting with a
volley of questions, the Congress accused the BJP-led central
government of not fulfilling its promise of bringing back black money
stashed abroad.
Deploring the recent spate of farmers' suicides
across the country, Surjewala questioned the government's claim of
ensuring "achche din" (good times).
Targeting union ministers
Giriraj Singh and Sadhvi Niranjan who currently face flak for practising
"divisive" politics, the Congress leader also attacked the prime
minister for providing them "latent support" in view of his studied
silence.
"What happened to the good governance rather than lumpen
elements with latent support of the prime minister trying to take
control of his government in setting divisive agenda," he asked.
Meanwhile,
missing from action for over a month, the 44-year-old Congress vice
president has been on a "leave of absence" since the budget session of
parliament began on February 23.
The Congress is unable to confirm when its leader would return.