As the lok Sabha elections move to next phases with higher number of seats at stake, the top rung of the BJP on Sunday stepped up its attack against “the first family” latching on the damning revelation in a book by the former Media Adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and blamed Congress president Sonia Gandhi for “remote controlling” the country to benefit her son Rahul.
The BJP zeroed in on Sonia’s reported “control” over the decision-making in the UPA Government as narrated in the Sanjaya Baru’s book, The Accidental Prime Minister — The Making and Unmaking Of Manmohan Singh.
Quoting from the chapters of the book that has triggered a raging controversy over Manmohan Singh’s “secondary” role in the Government, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi charged that Sonia Gandhi’s “blind love” for Rahul Gandhi had left the country in “ruins” and the UPA Government was “remote-controlled” by her.
“The mother’s blind love for her son has left the country in ruins....Will anything come out of himIJ Is there anythingIJ Will anything happenIJ Will you be able to believe himIJ Can the country live believing himIJ” he said at Haveri in north Karnataka, without naming the Gandhis.
The heated poll narrative will enter the crucial orbit in the coming week with the largest chunk of 122 lok Sabha seats going to polls in 13 States on April 17, while the sixth phase will witness polling in 117 seats in 12 States on April 24.
Senior BJP leaders lK Advani and Arun Jaitley also sought to highlight that the post of Prime Minster was hijacked by the 10 Janpath rendering Dr Manmohan Singh “the weakest Prime Minister” that country ever had. The Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday rubbished as “baseless and mischievous” the contention of former media adviser that PMO files were cleared by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
“The statement being attributed to a former media adviser to the Prime Minister that PMO files were seen by Congress president, Smt Sonia Gandhi is completely baseless and mischievous. It is categorically denied that any PMO file has ever been shown to Smt Sonia Gandhi,” said PMO spokesman Pankaj Pachauri in a statement to the claims in the book that Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Pulok Chatterjee would seek “instructions” from Gandhi on important PMO decisions.
The statement reiterated that “the question about comments of the former media adviser was raised by senior editors when they met the Prime Minister in October last year. His answer was: “Do not believe all he is saying.”
Jaitley, however, drew a parallel between the UPA Government and old Communist States, wondering if Sonia was like the general secretary of the Communist Party who had the last word and not the Prime Minister.
“The world already knows what he (Baru) has said but the book is an official confirmation. When I said for the first time that among all our PMs, he (Singh) is the weakest, then my own colleagues said he is a nice man and why criticise him so much. I said I feel sad and had sympathy for him,” Advani told newspersons in Ahmedabad.
On the other hand, Modi tried to hammer home the charge that the UPA Government was “remote controlled” by Sonia. “Two days ago, a book has come out, an official who used to work in the Manmohan Singh Government has written this book. He has said this Government is not being run by Manmohan Singhji. All the files are being checked by Sonia Gandhi,” Modi said.
Taking a jibe at what has been described as “Accidental Prime Minister” in the book, he spoke about the casualties that accidents involving scooters, trains or aircraft would cause. “But with Accidental Prime Minister, 125 crore people will die and future of our youth will get immersed in darkness. This is a book by Prime Minister’s personal man,” said Modi, who also addressed rallies at Chikmagalur and Chikkaballapur.
Drawing Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who was in the PMO, also into the issue, Modi said, “....He has said something else....He has said when he was given chance to head the Government for second term, Manmohan Singh refused it with folded hands.” “He did not want to become PM but ‘Madam’ made him forcefully. WhyIJ Because, until son gets ready give the charge to someone...At the cost of country’s well-being,” Modi said.
In a similar vein, party’s chief media-coordinator Ravi Shankar Prasad also ridiculed Rahul’s comments that he believed in empowering people and fighting graft, saying his claims sound hollow as he and his mother Sonia Gandhi had even “snatched” away the powers of the Prime Minister while several scams took place during the UPA rule. “The same Rahul Gandhi, who along with his mother, made the PM powerless, says he will now give strength to the people of India,” he said sarcastically in New Delhi, referring to the book.