Congress general secretary and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja on Monday stepped forward to defend party leader Rahul Gandhi after the BJP branded him a “traitor” over his remarks on the Election Commission of India on foreign soil.
Responding sharply to the BJP’s attack, Selja flipped the script and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of starting the trend of criticising opposition parties on foreign soil.
“It is the BJP’s old habit. Let me remind you, it was the honourable Prime Minister who first spoke about India’s internal political matters abroad, often insulting the opposition,” she alleged while speaking to reporters.
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Commenting on the BJP’s attack on the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, she remarked, “It’s like ‘Ulta Chor Kotwal Ko Daante’ (the pot calling the kettle black).”
“Rahulji has spoken things which are public. They should not always talk about disrespect to the nation. The disrespect to the nation takes place when the Constitution is played with,” she said and accused the BJP of disrespecting the Constitution and using the Central agencies according to its whims.
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Selja’s response was in response to the BJP’s fury over Rahul Gandhi’s alleged questioning of the BJP-led coalition’s victory in the Maharashtra Assembly elections and his criticism of the Election Commission, made during a public event in the US.
Rahul Gandhi sparks row with his remark on EC
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on a visit to the United States, has triggered a political row, stating that the Election Commission has been “compromised” in India and “something was very wrong” with the system.
The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha alleged that voter turnout data was manipulated during the assembly elections in Maharashtra–a charge he has been emphasising since the announcement of the poll results.
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Earlier in the day, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra launched a scathing attack on Gandhi, calling him a “traitor” and accusing him of lashing out at the Election Commission due to the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) probe in the National Herald case.
“You are venting your frustration over the ED’s actions by targeting the Election Commission. But that won’t help,” Patra said at a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi.
“The ED works on facts. The National Herald case is an open-and-shut matter,” he said.
(with PTI inputs)