BJP blasts Rahul Gandhi's stealing charge at EC, scoffs at jail swipe on Assam CM

New Delhi, July 17 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday launched a blistering attack at the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, over latter's charge of "election chori" at the Election Commission (EC) regarding the 'SIR' exercise in Bihar and also sarcastic swipe at Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at a public rally.

A couple of BJP spokespersons hit out at the Congress MP for taking potshots at the voters list "purging" drive in Bihar, as part of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and accused him of belittling and demeaning the poll panel with vague and outlandish claims.

Taking strong objection to his "prison prophecy" for the Assam CM, they called out Gandhi's "brazenness" of naming and shaming others while himself being an accused, currently on bail.

BJP spokesperson Tarun Chugh said that Congress has launched him multiple times, but the party as well as its "yuvraj" failed repeatedly in multiple elections, still, he remains defiant and tries to spread disorder with irresponsible and reckless remarks.

He further said that the Congress leader as well as the party was surrounded by negativity, frustration and depression and hence were making such baseless charges.

Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took to X to claim that the poll panel was caught red-handed stealing votes in the name of the voter verification drive in Bihar and also asked whether it has become an "election chori" branch of the BJP.

He made the startling charge while sharing video of a journalist reporting about the filling of enumeration forms by the Booth Level Officers (BLO) instead of the electorate.

Dinesh Pratap Singh, minister in the UP government, also sharply responded to Rahul Gandhi's claims about the SIR drive.

"Rahul Gandhi should respect democratic institutions, constitutional values. If illegal migrants are staying in the country, including Bangladeshi, Rohingyas, and efforts are being made to isolate them, then what is wrong with this? He must not try to defend them," the UP minister said.

Notably, the EC has also maintained that the electoral rolls revision in Bihar only focuses on "cleansing" the voters' list of ineligible people and removing duplicate entries, while keeping the eligible ones intact.

On Rahul Gandhi's claims of an imminent jail for Assam CM at a public rally, the BJP was unsparing in its criticism, accusing him of spreading anarchy.

BJP spokesperson Zafar Islam said Rahul Gandhi is a leader who has "scant" regard for law and only spreads anarchy.

"Rahul has failed politically many times, but doesn't refrain from giving threats. He is himself out on bail but is giving open threats to an elected chief minister," he said.

"This is like a thief talking about guarding the post. The entire Gandhi family is out of jail on bail," he further said, responding to Rahul's claims that Assam CM will be behind bars soon and nobody would be able to save him.

"Rahul Gandhi ji, stop spreading anarchy. The way you are threatening an elected Chief Minister, the day is not far when you yourself will have to go to jail," the BJP leader said further.

Tarun Chugh, taking strong objection to Rahul Gandhi's claims on Assam CM, said, "The LoP does not have a word to speak on Pakistani connection of Gaurav Gogoi’s wife, but goes on making absurd claims during Assam visit."

Dinesh Pratap Singh also echoed similar sentiments.

"Rahul Gandhi is himself on bail but threatens to put the Assam CM behind bars; this shows the party's Emergency mindset," he said.

--IANS

mr/svn