Congress takes dig at BJP over Advani remarks

The Congress party yesterday said a civil war was on in the BJP, a day after the party's senior leader LK Advani took a jibe at Narendra Modi by comparing his performance with that of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The Congress party on Sunday said a civil war was on in the BJP, a day after the party's senior leader LK Advani took a jibe at Narendra Modi by comparing his performance with that of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

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"BJP story by Advani ji. Chauhan ji verus Modi versus Rajnath ji versus Sushma ji versus Jaitley ji versus Gadkari ji. RSS versus BJP ji-Civil War in Pariwar ji," information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari tweeted.

Advani took a virtual jibe at the Gujarat chief minister and his growing national stature at a party meet in Gwalior on Saturday while lavishing praise on Chouhan.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader said that Chouhan had successfully transformed his "bimaru" (sick) state into a healthy one, which was a far tougher job than what Modi faced in Gujarat.

He also compared Chouhan to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, saying that he too was humble like the former prime minister.

Reacting to Advani's remarks, Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed tweeted: "People say, by rating Chouhan above Modi, LK Advani is looking for a safe seat in MP, but I think he will contest from a seat in Bihar."

Ahmed also claimed that Janata Dal-United (JDU) leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was "close to" those BJP leaders who did not want Modi to be the prime ministerial candidate.

"He (Nitish Kumar) is specially close to Advani," Ahmed said, adding that the senior BJP leader was "at the root of disease of which Modi was a symptom".

The JDU has said that it is opposed to Modi's projection as prime ministerial candidate of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

There has been demand from sections of BJP that Modi should be declared prime ministerial candidate, but the party has not taken a decision on the issue so far.