Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office (PMO) V. Narayanasamy on Monday took potshots at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following Lal Krishna Advani's praise for Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan vis-a-vis his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi, saying it is a leaderless party where everybody is in a tussle for due recognition.
Narayanasamy said there is a leadership tussle going on in the BJP as to who would be the Prime Ministerial candidate in 2014.
"Who will be the Prime Minister that is a big question mark in the BJP? Advani wants to become Prime Minister, Narendra Modi wants to become Prime Minister, Arun Jaitley wants to become Prime Minister, Sushma Swaraj wants to become Prime Minister, Rajnath Singh wants to become Prime Minister. It's a leaderless party. Everybody claims to be the leader, but people are not recognizing them," said Narayanasamy.
"But as far as Congress Party is concerned, Congress President Sonia Gandhi is the leader. Whatever the Congress President says that is the final word," he added, while lauding the ruling Congress Party's leadership.
Narayanasamy also launched a frontal attack on Modi, saying he is claming credit without doing any work.
"As far as Advani's statement is concerned, I am very clear in my mind because I would like to say one thing that the claim that has been made by Narendra Modi saying that he is a 'Vikas Purush' is totally bogus because the people of Gujarat are enterprising people, it is a fast developing state. Therefore, Narendra Modi's contribution is zero," said Narayanasamy.
"Narendra Modi is giving publicity without doing any work and he is claming credit. That is what Advani said in his statement in Madhya Pradesh. Therefore, Advani's statement to a certain extent is alright," he added.
Narayanasamy, however, said that he does not approve Advani's praise for Shivraj Singh Chauhan because there is corruption in Madhya Pradesh Government.
The BJP earlier in the day played down the reports of an internal rift within the party, and said that Advani's comments have been misinterpreted.
"Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan who was present in the state executive of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh at Gwalior said that Mr. Lal Krishna Advani while making his speech had praised all the BJP-ruled Chief Ministers be it Narendra Modi, be it Raman Singh, be it Shivraj Singh Chouhan, be it Manohar Parrikar. All had been praised and in doing so, like a statesman, Mr. Lal Krishna Advani carried a positive word for every Chief Minister," said BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
"And it's very natural practice that when you visit a particular state where the entire state executive or the council is sitting there, you are expected to boost the workers and the state executive members who expect a lot for the leadership. So, I think it's not in isolation; there is a complete misrepresentation or misinterpretation," he added.
Advani said over the weekend that Modi's development of Gujarat is noteworthy. He, however, said Shivraj Singh Chouhan deserves recognition because he turned around a poor state.
"I tell Narendrabhai Modi that Gujarat was healthy earlier also. You have made it excellent and you deserve congratulations for that. But what Chouhan and the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister did was wonderful," he had said in Gwalior.
