Amid political turmoil in Uttarakhand and talk about instability in Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, the BJP on Tuesday stepped up attack on the Congress, saying even "elected leaders" in that party seem to have lost faith in Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's leadership.
"You have lost ground, people had deserted you long back. Now the situation is such that your own elected people are deserting the party because they have lost faith in your leadership," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national secretary Shrikant Sharma, referring to Rahul Gandhi, told reporters here.
Joining issue with Rahul Gandhi for his "continued attack" on the Narendra Modi regime, the BJP leader said the Congress should rather focus on managing their own house instead of directing the tirade against the government.
"You manage your own house. Your failures will not be forgotten by simply attacking the Modi government," he said.
The remarks comes amid reports that political instability could hit Himachal Pradesh. The Congress party has lost power owing largely to defection from its camp in Arunachal Pradesh and in Uttarakhand, where President's Rule was imposed on Sunday.
Referring to Rahul Gandhi's election campaign in Assam, Sharma said: "Rahul has continued baseless allegations without doing homework about his own party's performance in the state."
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In the last 15 years in Assam, he alleged, the Congress party's name in the poll-bound state has become synonymous with "corruption" and "misgovernance".
"You have nothing to speak on Assam," he said, and lashed out at the Congress for pursuing "vote bank politics" in the northeastern state.
"Congress has rather shown love for infiltrators and not for natives," Sharma said, alleging that the Congress party has played vote bank politics by favouring infiltrators and "betrayed" the cause of the local inhabitants.
The BJP leader alleged that in the last 15 years as many as 32,000 small industrial units have been closed in Assam.
Referring to the National Herald case, he said: "It is a matter of sadness that a party which ruled India for the longest period, its president (Sonia Gandhi) and vice president (Rahul) are on bail today."
He also dubbed beleaguered liquor baron Vijay Mallya as a "baby of Congress" and asked how was the owner of Kingfisher Airlines given a bailout package in 2012.