Advani's remarks misinterpreted, no rift in BJP, claims Rajiv Rudy

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday played down the reports of an internal rift within the party following party veteran Lal Krishna Advani's praise of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan vis-a-vis his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi, saying there is a complete misinterpretation.

BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy, while attempting to bring an end to this issue, said sufficient clarification has been given on this.

"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 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 a misinterpretation," he added.

Rudy also lashed out at the Congress Party for targetting the BJP on this issue

"My friends in the Congress Party, spokespersons and others are a part of the government, which is clueless about the economy and clueless to government as to what is happening there. The spokespersons of such party, who are neck-deep in corruption, would certainly make a distress call. These are distress statements, trying to divert the attention from the core issues this government is facing," Rudy said.

"The spokespersons are clueless and don't know what to say. The credibility of the government is over, so is the credibility of the spokespersons of the Congress Party," he added.

Congress Party had earlier on Sunday poked fun at the BJP, saying that there was a 'civil war' in the opposition party over the issue of its Prime Ministerial candidate.

"BJP story by Advani ji. Chauhan ji versus Modiji, 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 yesterday.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also sought to quell the controversy, saying Advani praised all the BJP Chief Ministers.

"I would like to say with all humility that Advaniji is our philosopher and guide. He is the topmost leader of the party along with Atalji (Atal Bihari Vajpayee). What he has said is something different, he first praised Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, he praised Raman Singh, he praised Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and he even praised the development work being carried out in Madhya Pradesh by my government," said Chouhan.

"So, he did not praise any single individual. He praised all the Chief Ministers," he added, while talking to the media in Bhopal.

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.