Senior Bhartiya Janta Party leader lK Advani on Sunday launched a withering broadside against the Congress, saying it will face the worst drubbing in its electoral history for committing all sorts of misdeeds, including huge corruption
He took the Congress down the memory lane reminding them of the parliamentary elections after the days of emergency in which the party was trounced by rival political parties for highhandedness in the country and cautioned the party about the same results in the upcoming lok Sabha elections. Advani said that the Congress had finished with zero score in various northern States, including Punjab and UP, adding this time the party will make a new record on scoring zeroes.
“This time the Congress will not even cross 100 seats. They will get as low seats as they would have never imagined,” pointed out Advani. The former Deputy Prime Minister was speaking here on the occasion of releasing a memoirs — Kailashji Ke Sang: Smriti Ke Kshan — organised in remembrance of and BJP veteran leader late Kailashpati Mishra.
The function was attended by lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Karia Munda, BJP State president Ravindra Kumar Rai, former Chief Minister Arjun Munda, BJP’s in-charge of Jharkhand Vinod Pandey, Dhanbad MP PN Singh.
At the same time, the veteran leader exuded confidence on the BJP performance and maintained that the party will score more than ever in the history of parliamentary elections this time supposedly derived from the unprecedented crowd that the party’s rallies have pulled so far across the country. The BJP senior added insult to the Congress’ injury by putting the onus on them for their pathetic performance in the Assembly elections.
“Earlier we could not cross more than 182 seats on our own however this time I believe that people have made up their mind to bring the party which has worked wonders during six-year regime of Atal Bihari Vajpayee,” maintained Advani. While projecting brighter days ahead for the BJP, Advani eulogised performances of other Chief Ministers of the party.
He also attempted to dilute the line incidentally drawn between the Gujarat CM and to other CMs in the BJP ruled states.“It’s another thing that one CM has been made a prime ministerial candidate however all CMs, including Arjun Munda have done a good job,” continued Advani. Interestingly, the former Home Minister questioned the manner in which Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated to create Seemandhra and Telangana and the agitation that accompanied the demands for or against the creation of the new State.
Advani recalled how three States of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand were formed during the BJP’s rule and highlighted the dexterity of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Government in handling emotional issues of division of states. “So much hue and cry over one state!” wondered Advani adding “In Vajpayee’s time three States were created with ease despite one senior leader (read lalu Prasad) declaring that Jharkhand would be created on his body.”
“We were always in favour of creating smaller states like Telangana and Vidharbha. The demand for Vidharbha has been pending for a long time. But we did not rake up it as our long time ally Shiv Sena was in favour of united Maharashtra,” he pointed out. Incidentally, Advani praised the culture of the party which, according to him, stuck to the Constitution and the rose to prominence by following well defined set of rules and values besides the enriching contribution made by Mishra in the party.
“Kailashji’s greatest quality was that he used to think for all not just one person,” concluded Advani. Advani also talked about The Pioneer.