Chennai, Sep 24 BJP national spokesperson C R Kesavan on Thursday hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of “clutching at straws” to shift the blame for his party’s electoral debacles onto the Election Commission and the SIR exercise.
In a video statement, Kesavan claimed that Gandhi was attacking the poll watchdog only to deflect personal accountability for consecutive losses.
“Rahul Gandhi is clutching at straws, trying to shift the blame on the SIR process and ECI for his staggering massive electoral defeats the Congress party has faced, for which Rahul Gandhi is responsible,” he said.
Targeting Gandhi over his remarks on reported dissent within the poll panel, Kesavan said those who run their own party like a “dictatorship” cannot comprehend the concept of differing views in democratic institutions.
“How can Rahul Gandhi and his family, who lord over the Congress party as if it were a dictatorship, even understand the concept of dissenting opinion and differing views in democratic institutions?” Kesavan asked.
He said the Congress leader and his party ended up with “egg on their face” after “prematurely jumping and piggybacking on a very lopsided article,” claiming they had been “fact-checked by the ECI’s press release yesterday”.
Alleging a consistent pattern, Kesavan said Gandhi has for long been “maligning constitutional institutions, bitterly attacking the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) process and even intimidating constitutional authorities”.
“It is notable to observe that Rahul Gandhi till now has not summoned the courage to file an affidavit to substantiate his baseless allegation,” the BJP spokesperson said, pointing out that the Supreme Court had upheld the constitutional validity of the SIR process in May this year.
The spokesperson also questioned the Congress’s opposition to the roll clean-up drive, asking why Gandhi was resisting the “rightful removal of ineligible, illegal and bogus voters from the electoral rolls”.
“Is it because Rahul Gandhi is stiff scared that it will severely affect Rahul Gandhi’s vote bank politics of appeasement?” Kesavan asked, asserting that voters are “very wise” and will neither accept attempts to vilify constitutional bodies nor believe the “fake narratives” spun around them.
(PTI News)
