Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 23: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said today that Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi can work with old guards and it was actually Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Prime Ministerial candidate, who has culled the senior leadership of the BJP including Lal Krishan Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi.
He also took a dig at the BJP for ignoring veteran leader and gentleman like Jaswant Singh and inducting “goons’’ like Pramod Muthalik (chief of Sri Rama Sene) in Karnataka into the party. He called upon the people to be afraid of the party after the induction of Muthalik.
The BJP had to rescind induction of Muthalik within hours following widespread criticism.
In a series of tweets today on micro-blogging site twitter, Omar first took a dig at the BJP for ignoring senior leadership and then allowing induction of Muthalik into the party.
“For all the chatter that Rahul Gandhi (AICC-I Vice President) can’t work with the old guard of the Congress, it’s actually NaMo (BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi), who has culled the senior leadership of the BJP,’’ Omar said.
He added: “earlier there was the Advani-Vajpayee duo, possibly even with Joshi the trio but now it’s just the NaMo monopoly’’.
Worthwhile to mention here that veteran BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani had created a controversy recently by refusing to contest from Gandhinagar Parliamentary seat in Gujarat where Mr Modi is the Chief Minister as his (Mr Advani’s) supporters feared sabotage from the Modi camp. Mr Advani had gone to the extent of seeking Bhopal seat in Madhya Pradesh, the capital City of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ruled State (Madhya Pradesh). Mr Advani had later yielded and agreed to contest from Gandhinagar.
Murli Manohar Joshi, another BJP veteran had resisted the attempt by Modi camp to snatch his Varanasi Parliamentary seat but had ultimately given up the resistance and agreed to contest from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.
Omar’s sharp attack on Modi came just few days ahead of his visit to holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi ji followed by an address to a rally at Hiranagar on March 26.
“I dare say that there is more democracy in so called “family run’’ parties like National Conference than “in parties with a difference’’, Omar said referring to the BJP, whose leaders like to call the BJP as a party with difference.
The Congress is also often dubbed as family run party by the Opposition with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi at the helm of affairs.
Taking another dig at the BJP for neglecting gentlemen like Jaswant Singh by showing him the door and denying him ticket from Barmer in Rajasthan and inducting “goons’ like Pramod Muthalik (chief of Sri Rama Sene) into the party in Karnataka, Omar tweeted: “be afraid India, be very afraid’’.
It may be mentioned here that former External Affairs and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh has decided to file nomination as an independent candidate from Barmer after being denied BJP ticket.
The BJP had to face embarrassment after Karnataka unit of the party inducted controversial chief of Sri Rama Sene Pramod Muthalik into the party in Karnataka, who had attacked women at a pub in Mangalore in 2009. Following criticism, BJP president Rajnath Singh had directed the Karnataka unit of the party to rescind Muthalik’s entry into the party.
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