A remark by Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Yashwant Sinha, comparing Rahul Gandhi to a horse which carries the groom to his wedding, drew strong reaction from Congress on Sunday. The Congress said that the BJP should be worried about the graft charges its president Nitin Gadkari was facing.
On Saturday, Mr. Sinha had said in Bokaro, Jharkhand, that “Rahul Gandhi is like a horse which carries the groom on its back at weddings. The horse is always stuck at one place. It does not move. Similarly, Rahul Gandhi also does not move. Many efforts are being made to get him to do something, but he doesn’t. Some try to push him but he still refuses to move. Till the time he isn’t ready, how can Manmohan Singh do anything? This is the crisis today.”
Hitting back at the BJP leader, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said in New Delhi that Mr. Sinha should first state whether he considered Mr. Gadkari as his party’s chief or not.
Saying that his party had a lot of respect for Mr. Sinha, Congress leader and Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said it would be good for Mr. Sinha and the BJP if he focused on the problems plaguing the party.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma too came down heavily on the BJP leader saying it would be appropriate if Mr. Sinha commented on the BJP’s plight.
Another Congress leader and Minister of State for Human Resource Development Jitin Prasada also said that Mr. Sinha should concentrate on his party’s president rather than focusing on the Congress. “As far as what [Mr.] Sinha has stated, Manmohan Singh has got the mandate of this country. And we won with him the election and we have got a mandate for five years. I think he [Sinha] should better focus on his national president and what he is up to rather than focusing on our party,” Mr. Prasada said.
