Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday vehemently attacked the Congress over it alliance with “divisive forces” like AIUDF in the Assam Assembly elections, alleging that the party was following the footsteps of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Addressing an election rally here, Chouhan used the first alphabets of the names of three Congress leaders from the Nehru-Gandhi family—Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra—to launch his attack. He accused Rahul Gandhi of allying with “divisive forces” in Assam, Bengal and Kerala.
“The divisive path of Congress and Rahul will not be accepted by the people of Assam and the country. Congress has become SRP (sarp) party. S – Sonia, R – Rahul, P – Priyanka. It is a party whose leaders indulge in drama,” he alleged.
‘Sarp’ in Hindi means a serpent.
Chouhan also referred to Gandhi venturing into sea during a visit to Kerala and Priyanka Gandhi plucking tea leaves during electioneering in Assam. “On one hand, Rahulji takes a dip in the sea while, on the other hand, Priyankaji prefers to pluck leaves in tea gardens in the off-season. It looks as if a film shooting is going on,” he said.
“Congress gave hunger, unemployment, poverty to Assam. It did not allow Assam to progress. But Sarbananda Sonowal government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has completely changed Assam and ushered fast development,” he added.
The Madhya Pradesh CM also took a dig at Congress over senior members of G-23 including Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, who were among 23 leaders who had written a letter to Sonia Gandhi seeking internal reforms, but are not part of the party’s campaign in the state.
He said Rahul Gandhi has aligned Congress with AIUDF leader Badruddin Ajmal in Assam, with IUML in Kerala and Abbas Siddiqui-led Indian Secular Front (ISF) in Assam. “Congress does not need Azad, Anand but it needs Ajmal. This Congress is not walking on the path of Gandhiji but Jinnah,” he alleged.