The BJP on Thursday said it would not let “youth” overshadow “experience” in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
“People should see for themselves what the result of giving power to the youth with no experience has been. There are examples of young Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah in Jammu and Kashmir and Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh. Then there is the late Rajiv Gandhi who became the youngest Prime Minister at 40,” said party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi.
The party, however, clarified that while it was not averse to giving the youth a chance, it would not trade it for “experience.”
Asked whether the party was reluctant to toe the “youth” line of the Congress and the AAP, Mr. Trivedi said the party had identified its goals and would focus on strengthening its ‘Modi for PM’ and “272+” campaigns. “At a meeting of the office-bearers on Thursday, party president Rajnath Singh said the Congress seemed to have conceded defeat. The Congress has moved from the politics of cobbling together numbers to the politics of deceit and conspiracy. It has been trying to create an anti-Modi and anti-BJP mood in the country through false campaigns,” he said.
While Mr. Trivedi was willing to comment on the BJP’s strategy to counter the AAP, senior party colleague Arun Jaitely lashed out at the AAP earlier in the day.
Mr. Jaitely said instead of proving to be a party that promised alternative politics, AAP’s politics was “gimmickry” and “road to anarchy”. “India was promised alternative politics. I had personally hoped that alternative politics promised by the Aam Aadmi Party would lead to larger footprints on Indian society. Conventional political parties and politicians would realise the importance of probity and accountability. Instead, the country is being presented with gimmickry and the road to anarchy,” he said.
Referring to the AAP’s membership drive, Mr. Jaitley said there was in-built danger in establishing a political party and then searching for members and an ideology.
He said a group of “disparate, self-opinionated persons” had flocked to the new outfit.
