The Congress on Monday termed the elevation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as BJP’s election campaign committee chief as the beginning of its complete degeneration and said that the resignation of veteran leader lK Advani is one of its repercussions.
“This is the beginning of the complete degeneration of the BJP. It will have its own repercussions,” Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said about the appointment of Modi.
BJP president Rajnath Singh was garlanding him in a way as if an outgoing president welcomes a new president, he pointed out adding, “This is unusual in our political system. Please remember, such situations, such incidents are premonitions of the things to come.”
Terming Advani’s resignation as a matter between the BJP and the person concerned to think and decide, he said, “We had already said that this (Modi’s elevation) will have many repercussions.”
Another Congress general secretary Digivijay Singh recalled that Advani was responsible for taking the tally of BJP from two in 1984 to 182. He wondered: If this person has demanded some more time and asked to wait for a while, or demanded setting up of two committees including one headed by former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, what was the problem in waiting for a whileIJ “What was the hurryIJ After all they were not going to miss a plane,” he said.
He also cautioned the BJP president saying “Modi has always chopped off the hands which promoted him. That is why we would like to caution Rajnath Singh.” He, however, rejected the suggestion that Modi is a threat to Congress saying that the party did not take him seriously.
Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmad was not sympathetic to Advani and charged that the veteran BJP leader was responsible for communalising the politics of the country by the Rath Yatra and now by resigning he is trying to wash his past sins.
He also said that RSS was angry with Advani for thwarting its plan to ensure Gadkari’s continuance as the BJP president and had even acted against its favourite B S Yeddyurappa in Karnataka. So the Sangh wanted to humiliate Advani by elevating Modi and showing the former his place in BJP.
The Congress is happy over the deep division within the BJP and feels that it will help the party in the lok Sabha polls by polarising the anti-Modi votes against BJP. Till now, Congress was saying that BJP leaders were working for selfish motives and now their own patriarch has made the charge, party leaders said.
Rejecting the BJP’s effort to make it a Modi Vs Rahul Gandhi affair, a senior Congress leader said that while Rahul has a pan-India appeal, Modi’s influence was limited to just the Hindi heartland. Also, he has failed to show any charisma in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls and his elevation has even threatened the existence of NDA with JD(U) having a rethink after Advani’s resignation.