'Zero vision, 100 pc frustration' outcomes of INDIA bloc meeting; Rahul rejected as its leader: BJP

New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) The BJP said the outcomes of the INDIA bloc meeting on Wednesday were "zero vision, 100 per cent frustration, and an advance excuse for poll defeats", with the leaders of the opposition grouping rejecting Rahul Gandhi's leadership.

"The INDI Alliance fell apart even before the meeting took place. The DMK did not attend the meeting. Akhilesh was busy elsewhere. The AAP had already declined," Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said at a press conference at the BJP headquarters.

The senior BJP leader further pointed out that Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said he will join the meeting virtually.

"Why is this happening? It is because the INDI Alliance is simply not willing to accept Rahul Gandhi as its leader. His leadership is not being accepted; that is why they are not even showing up," Chouhan said, contending that Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav would have come to attend the meeting if it was "really so important."

Chouhan claimed that the opposition INDIA bloc is crumbling.

"No matter how many times they (Congress) try to re-launch Rahul Gandhi, the INDIA bloc does not consider him their leader," he said.

"Leave the INDIA bloc aside; even Congress leaders and members of the party are not willing to accept Rahul Gandhi as their leader. Rahul himself, during Congress Working Committee meetings, keeps pleading: 'Accept me as your leader, trust me'," the BJP leader said, and wondered how the country could accept someone as a leader whom his own party does not.

The BJP's remarks came after the INDIA bloc leaders met here to finalise an action plan for a joint agitation over alleged irregularities in the SIR.

The Congress asserted that the opposition stands united to protect the Constitution from "repeated assaults" of the Modi government, including its "vote chori gameplan" to remain in power.

While the DMK and the AAP skipped the meeting, Akhilesh Yadav did not attend it on account of nominations for Rajya Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal, the TMC's Mamata Banerjee, and leaders from the SP, CPI, CPI(M), NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), among others, attended the meeting.

Chouhan alleged that the INDIA bloc's proposed marches from October 2 to October 8 at various locations in the country are not meant to save democracy, but to save the "dynasty" of the Congress and its constituents.

The minister also took exception to the bloc members' opposition to the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists underway in India.

"An accurate voter list is the soul of democracy, and if incorrect names are included in it, democracy will perish. I want to ask the Congress party what objection could you possibly have to the removal of the name of someone who is no longer alive from the voter list?" Chouhan said.

For a "pristine democracy", the voter list must be accurate, the minister stressed.

"What is the problem if a name is removed from one location in cases of duplication? Why should the name of someone who is not even a citizen of the country be included in the voter list?" he added.

Chouhan alleged that the Congress and other opposition parties are attacking the Election Commission and raising questions on the poll process after they failed to remove Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP from power at the centre by all means.

"They are spreading confusion. After they applied all tactics to remove Narendra Modi from people's hearts but could not succeed, they are once again hatching a conspiracy to spread anarchy and unrest in the country," he charged.

Those who talk about "vote chori" should look within, Chouhan said. "People vote for work and performance," he added.

Chouhan also alleged that the Congress, which talks about democracy today, committed a "sin" by dismissing more than 50 elected governments.

"It was the Congress which imposed Emergency in the country when it was in power," he said.