Those at ‘epicentre’ of scams talk about ‘earthquake’: BJP hits back at Rahul

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday hit out at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s oratory skills by saying his speeches cause tremors within his party and not outside.

BJP leaders lashed out at Gandhi’s accusation that government is not allowing him to speak in the Parliament. His speech is ready and will cause an ‘earthquake’ in the House, Gandhi claimed on Friday.

“The Prime Minister is giving speeches across the country but is afraid of coming to the Lok Sabha and is not willing to sit there,” Gandhi said and asked what could be the reason for this “nervousness”.

Many BJP leaders replied to the Congress vice-president’s accusations.

“Those who are shaking after the assault on blackmoney... those who have been at the epicentre of scams for 60 years talk of earthquake today,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra tweeted.

“Our party is not afraid of him or his speeches, we are ready to listen to him but he should not run away when we respond...Actually these days Mr Rahul Gandhi is annoyed his party is losing everywhere especially after he started handling affairs of the party,” Union Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

In a dig at Rahul, BJP leader Smriti Irani said, “Rahulji thinks too highly about his oratory skills and he himself knows how much his speeches appeal to the people...As far as tremors are concerned. I think when he speaks there are tremors within Congress not outside.”

The Union textile minister added that Parliament is a platform for discussion and deliberation, so Rahul is welcome to speak but the opposition should allow the house to run.

Proceedings of both houses of Parliament have been stalled from over two weeks now due to continuous uproar over the issue of demonetization.

Latching onto President Pranab Mukherjee’s denouncement of disruptions of Parliament’s proceedings, BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma said from “‘gram pramukh’ (village head) to the President, everybody is angry with Congress”.

“Over Rs 9 crore is reportedly spent daily on running Parliament and Rahul Gandhi should count how much public money Congress has wasted by paralysing it since the beginning of the session on November 16. The government has been keen on a debate from the day one,” he said.

“He is making all kind of petty remarks for headlines. He is practising TRP politics and competing with Arvind Kejriwal,” Sharma alleged.

Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu also hit out at Rahul for calling demonetization a “foolish” step.

“...taking action against black money and corruption, is it foolish or keeping quiet or being silent or collaborators of those scams and scandals was foolish,” he said.

“The Congress party have given a rebate to debate. You are committing contempt against people of the country and contempt against democracy,” he said.

First Published: Dec 09, 2016 17:11 IST