The BJP and the Congress on Saturday engaged in a war of words on the issue of alliances. After leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley took a dig at the ruling party for supporting the AAP in Delhi and RJD in Patna, Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmad retaliated by reminding the BJP of its own attempts to bring BS Yeddyurappa and Om Prakash Chautala in the NDA fold.
Responding to a two-day-old tweet by Jaitley, the Congress hit out at the BJP for its efforts to bring back the former Karanataka Chief Minister, who had to resign from the CM post in the wake of corruption charges. “Jaitley is sarcastic on the prospects of the Congress and the RJD alliance, but forgets BJP’s efforts to bring BS Yeddyurappa in the BJP and Chautalas in the NDA,” Shakeel Ahmad wrote on Twitter.
His reference to “Chautalas” is apparently with regard to speculation that the BJP may join hands with the INlD in Haryana to create an umbrella coalition of the BJP, Haryana Janhit Congress and the INlD of Om Prakash Chautala. On December 19, Jaitley had written on Twitter, “What a paradox — Congress supports Kejriwal in Delhi and lalu in Patna.” There have been reports that desperate RJD and Congress could join hands this time. They had refused to enter into a pre-poll alliance last time resulting into a clean sweep of sorts for the NDA in Bihar.