The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said it was time Priyanka Gandhi entered electoral politics as the “myth” around her needed to be “exploded.”
Attacking the Congress, the BJP said the party was “merely a crowd around a family.” The comments made by senior party leader Arun Jaitley came in the wake of reports that Ms. Gandhi was keen to contest from Varanasi and take on the BJP’s prime ministerial nominee, Narendra Modi. Ms. Gandhi has, however, denied the claim.
Drawing comparisons between now and the situation that the Congress found itself in before the elections in 1977, Mr. Jaitley said the party was again facing a time when “the family charisma has faded away and economic populism is not working.”
“The Congress solution is, if one incumbent from the family fails, the alternative can only be another member of the family. I had almost predicted this. I only wish that the desperate solution of Varanasi had been actually implemented. The country now needs the myth of the other family member also to be exploded,” Mr. Jaitley said in a statement.
His remarks came even as Priyanka Gandhi denied having any intentions of contesting elections, trashing reports that she wanted to challenge Narendra Modi from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat and was stopped by the party high command.
She said it is a “personal” decision not to contest and that her family would “wholeheartedly support” her if she ever wanted to.
BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “Priyanka Gandhi should have contested from Varanasi. Her husband Robert Vadra should have contested from Vadodara and other members of the Congress’ family of maladministration, who have run away from elections, should also have contested”.
On the Congress allegedly threatening its chief ministers of replacing them if they do not win seats, Mr Jaitley said the problem is not with the Congress chief ministers and questioned why the ruling party was looking for scapegoats.
