After a sustained attack on the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh over the past three days, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday trained his guns on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
His first major attack on the BJP came in parts of Pilibhit district, the political turf of his cousin Varun Gandhi, who is the Lok Sabha member from that constituency. “BJP ke log aapake paas aye; unhone aapse kaha hamey Ram ke naam par vote do; yeh Ram ke naam ki dalali nahin to aur kya hai (BJP leaders approached you and sought votes in the name of Ram, is it not misuse of Ram’s name?),” said Mr Gandhi at three successive rallies in Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur and Bareilly. While accusing the BJP of making only “false and hollow promises”, with the sole intent of serving its short-term political gains, Mr Gandhi appealed to the people to vote for the Congress which alone could insure a bright future for them.
“While the BJP’s unreliable character was known to all, it was once again amply demonstrated in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, when in sharp contrast to its earlier categorical assurance, the party declined to support the Lokpal bill,” he said.
In Bareilly, Mr Gandhi also chose to take on the Samajwadi Party. “Ever since the UPA government has announced 4.5 per cent reservation for Muslims, Mulayam Singh Yadav has become jittery, which is reflected in his new found demand for raising the Muslim reservation to 18 per cent,” he said.