The BJP on Tuesday lashed out at the Opposition for its “silence” over the content of a video clip in which Tej Bahadur Yadav, whose candidature on an SP ticket from Varanasi Lok Saba seat was rejected, is reportedly talking about assassinating Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“It’s a very serious matter. It is about the Prime Minister’s safety. It is about conspiracy to assassinate an elected prime minister. Why is the opposition silent?” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said here at a press conference.
He questioned if SP president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati will apologise for projecting him as their alliance’s candidate against Modi in Varanasi.
The “sponsored attack” on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal echoes for days but the Opposition is silent at this threat to Modi, he said.
The Prime Minister is being attacked even though what he said about former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was a “statement of fact”, Patra claimed.
On Supreme Court rejecting the opposition’s review plea on VVPAT, he said their attack on electronic voting machines is an attempt to get an “anticipatory bail” for their impending loss in the general election.
The BJP is going to win more than 300 seats in the 543-member House, Patra claimed.
On other hand, BJP Vice-President Baijant Panda said West Bengal Chief Minister was disturbed as the ground has shifted in the state in favour of the BJP.
Accusing the opposition parties of targeting Prime Minister with a torrent of “abuses” in frustration over their “poor” show in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, the BJP leader said people will give them a befitting reply on May 23 when votes are counted.
Panda and BJP media head Anil Baluni claimed that the “Modi wave” will help the saffron party gain many seats from states like Odisha and West Bengal, leading it to better its tally of 282 seats in 2014.
Panda said the opposition, which is in “panic mode”, has been “abusing” Modi, referring to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s comparison of the prime minister with Duryodhan, the antagonist to righteous Pandavas in epic Mahabharat.
He also referred to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s remarks that Modi should get a “tight slap of democracy” to attack the opposition.
Baluni said Congress leaders have “abused” Modi as he had spoken about their past misdeeds, a reference to his attack on former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
“Why are Congress leaders apprehensive of their past? Their language is reflective of their frustration at their impending defeat. We repeat our challenge to the Congress to debate with us on the performance of its governments,” he told reporters.
To a question about BJP general secretary Ram Madhav’s reported remarks that the saffron party may not get a majority on its own, Panda said Madhav has also clarified that he was misquoted, and asserted that no one in the party has any doubt over crossing the half way mark in Lok Sabha.