Learn to respect party elders, Cong tells BJP
The Congress on Friday advised the BJP to introspect and learn to respect elders as it accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of publicly disrespecting its veterans L. K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, hours after BJP chief Amit Shah’s attack on Congress vice- president Rahul Gandhi.
With the BJP national executive meeting begin- ning on Friday, questions over whether Mr Advani will deliver an address have put the party on the backfoot.
“I would humbly request the president of the BJP that he should leave the politics of jumlas and rather introspect.”
“They should learn culture and how to respect elders since he has made their senior leaders ‘ disappear’ from the scene,” party communication department in- charge Randeep Surjewala told reporters. He recalled that in 2002, when then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee talked of raj dharma and had decided to make Mr Modi ( then Gujarat chief minister) “history, the same Advani had come with Sanjeevani booti ( herb that infuses life) for Modi”.
Mr Surjewala alleged that Mr Advani and Dr Murli Manohar Joshi are being “disrespected publicly” by Mr Modi.
Setting the tone of the BJP’s national executive currently on in Bengaluru, Mr Shah took a jibe at Mr Gandhi, asking the Congress to “find” him and stop finding “non- existent” faults of the government. At the AICC briefing, when Mr Surjewala was asked about Mr Shah’s claim that the BJP will rule for 20 years, he replied, “It would be better if the president of the BJP talks of reality and... tells the nation where has the black money has gone, [ he] should also tell when achchhe din will come, tell the country when the farmers’ plight and [ other] concerns will be addressed by the Modi government.”
No BJP leader is giving a direct answer as to whether Mr Advani will address the two- day meet. The party has evaded a direct reply to repeated questions after reports that Mr Advani was disinclined to address the gathering.