A day after its Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was booed by alleged Modi supporters in a rally, the Congress on Wednesday saw a “design” behind such incidents even as it is said that no self-respecting Opposition Chief Minister should attend the “political functions” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has been apprised of the view in writing and in all probability, the leadership may ask its Chief Ministers to adopt a cautious approach during such functions.Sources in the party said several Congress leaders are of the view that Congress Chief Ministers should follow only the minimum protocol during the Prime Minister’s visit in their respective States to avoid “engineered” incidents like that in Haryana.
“There is a political design behind this. The Prime Minister has visited poll-bound States like Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Haryana and tomorrow he is visiting Jharkhand. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren should be cautious. It’s not only about Congress Chief Ministers.
All self-respecting Chief Ministers of the Opposition should avoid political functions of Modi, which are being held in the name of public functions,” said AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed.Ahmed said that this seems to be the modus operandi of the BJP and Modi to embarrass Opposition Chief Ministers publicly in election-bound states to derive political mileage.
Hooda was left red faced as a hostile crowd hooted him at a function in presence of Modi, following which the angry Congress leader said he would boycott such events with the PM in future.There was continuous hooting against the two-time Chief Minister of Haryana, which goes to polls in October. Pro-Modi slogans were raised, much to Hooda’s discomfort and despite the PM asking the people not to do so.
later, a fuming Chief Minister blamed the BJP for the incident.At Solapur, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had to discontinue his speech midway as he was booed and the crowd began chanting Modi’s name during a function last week.