New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday hit back at BJP for charging that party chief Sonia Gandhi was behind the plan to frame PM Modi (then CM) in the 2002 Gujarat riots case and said that this was an attempt to defame the opposition leader. "This is an attempt to defame Soniaji and dent her image by reviving old cases.
If there was any evidence, why did they not take any action so far. This is part of a conspiracy. The BJP is merely trying to take political mileage as polls are coming in Gujarat and other states. This will go on till the elections," Congress veteran Tariq Anwar told ETV Bharat.
Earlier, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed that senior Congress leader late Ahmed Patel, who was Sonia Gandhi's political adviser, was just the medium through which she acted to destabilise the BJP government in the state and damage the then chief minister Modi's political career.
Anwar, who has worked with late Ahmed Patel, criticised the BJP’s attempt to level charges on a leader who was no more. “They publicly criticise the departed who can not defend themselves. They have also blamed Nehruji, Indiraji and Rajivji. They have not even spared Mahatma Gandhi. This is their style of functioning. This in unfortunate,” he said.
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Congress media chairman Pawan Khera said that blaming Sonia Gandhi and Ahmed Patel was an alibi and the real target of the BJP was the coming Gujarat assembly elections. “Soniaji and Ahmed ji are alibis, the real aim is Gujarat polls. They have been ruling the state for 27 years and have not done any development. Roads in Gujarat are worse than in Bihar. Now that reality is before people, they are coming out with conspiracy theories,” said Khera.
The ecosystem of BJP had a pattern of floating conspiracy theories against PM Modi before every election, said the congress leader. “In 2017, they had raised the issue of a dinner meeting in Jungpura, Delhi where former PM Manmohan Singh and former Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor were present among others and plotted against PM Modi.
Pakistan’s name was also there. Later, when we raised the issue, PM Modi had to apologise to former PM Manmohan Singh in Parliament after the Gujarat elections,” said Khera. “Before 2017, when Modiji was CM, he used to raise threats to him from a neighbouring country. As PM, he alleges the entire world is conspiring against him. Soon, threats may emerge from North Pole and South Pole also,” he said.
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The Congress media chairman and veteran Salman Khurshid wondered if the government had nothing to showcase as work. “Have you not done any work in 8 years to showcase before the polls. Why do you have to bring up Pakistan or a Muslim name just before the elections?” said Khera, referring to the recent controversy around former Vice President Hamid Ansari, who was accused by the BJP of being friends with an alleged Pakistan spy.
Khurshid said the government was unsure of its record and looking for futile alibis. “The witch hunt continues, Congress chief, late Ahmed Patel, ex-VP Hamid Ansari. Attempts by the BJP and the investigative agencies to malign reputation of persons who have held high office and steered the then ruling party with meticulous loyalty to the leadership will hurt the country most. High cost for meagre political gains,” he said.
