Congress attacks Uma Bharti for Sonia remark
January 19th, 2012 - 9:51 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) The Congress Thursday attacked Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Uma Bharti for commenting on party president Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin and said that Bharti’s party would not be accepted by the electorate in Uttar Pradesh.
Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said Sonia Gandhi was not only a leader of the party but the whole country.
Addressing a rally in Charkhari in Bundelkhand earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi said Bharti was an outsider to the state.
“A BJP leader has come from Madhya Pradesh. Where was she when farmers were dying in Bundelkhand? Now that elections are here, she has come to you,” Rahul Gandhi said.
Bharti responded by telling reporters in Lucknow that she was not an outsider and that she was confident of defeating the “guru-chela” (mentor-student) pair of Rahul Gandhi and Digvijay Singh in the Uttar Pradesh polls.
“I am not an outsider, I am from Madhya Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi should remember the background of his mother before questioning his ‘bua’ (aunt),” she said, taking a potshot at the Congress leader.
Alvi said people of Madhya Pradesh had rejected Bharti and she had been forced to leave the state.
“If people of Madhya Pradesh have refused to accept her, how did she feel people of Uttar Pradesh will accept her?” Alvi asked.
Bharti, a former BJP chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, had floated her own party before returning to the BJP. She has been campaigning for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.
Alvi said that the BJP will not gain by Bharti contesting the polls from Uttar Pradesh.
“In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP does not have leadership,” Alvi said.
- Rahul, Uma take on each other in battleground UP - Jan 19, 2012
- BJP to field Uma Bharti in UP polls - Jan 19, 2012
- BJP's Uma calculations go wrong - Mar 06, 2012
- No talks on BJP-BSP post-poll tie up :Nirmala Sitharaman - Feb 12, 2012
- Gandhis resorting to theatrics: Sushma - Feb 17, 2012
- Should I join politics, Priyanka asks rival parties - Feb 05, 2012
- Brisk polling in fifth phase of UP poll (Lead) - Feb 23, 2012
- 39 percent turnout in fifth phase of UP poll (Second lead) - Feb 23, 2012
- Brisk polling in Uttar Pradesh (Third Lead) - Feb 23, 2012
- UP polls: 59 percent vote in 5th phase (Intro Roundup) - Feb 23, 2012
- BJP won't tolerate religion-based quota: Uma Bharti (Lead) - Jan 11, 2012
- Rahul has to play a bigger role, says Digvijay - Nov 05, 2011
- Sonia, Rahul to address rally in Uttar Pradesh April 30 - Apr 21, 2011
- Sonia goes abroad for 'routine check-up', to return in 4-5 days (Second Lead) - Feb 28, 2012
- Mayawati could be jailed for corruption: Uma Bharti - Nov 28, 2011
Tags: alvi, bharti, chief minister, congress leader, digvijay singh, electorate, guru chela, jan 19, janata party, lucknow, New Delhi, outsider, party president, potshot, rahul gandhi, rashid, sonia gandhi, spokesperson, student pair, uttar pradesh