Rahul Gandhi must stop making rhetorical statements: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday said that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi must stop making rhetorical statements and realize that the nation does not want mindless negativity but politics of hope and development.

BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli hit back at Gandhi over his criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the people of different states of India are speaking against the negative politics of his party and against all the false allegations.

"Whether it's Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and now Karnataka, now in the Bangalore municipal corporation elections, everywhere the people are rejecting the Congress. They don't want the mindless negativity, they want the politics of hope, the politics of development and the politics of 'sabka saath sabka vikas' which is what the BJP is doing," he added.

Kohli asked the Congress to answer the questions that are being raised about the land issue in Rahul Gandhi's parliamentary constituency Amethi.

"Before talking about democratic traditions, they should answer why a non-Gandhi person cannot become the president of the congress party? When was the last time something like this of free elections were held, organizational election were held? So, Mr. Rahul Gandhi is making rhetorical statements away from facts," he added.

The Congress vice-presidenttoday visited the Balakote sector along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district and interacted with the victims of recent Pakistani shelling there.

Talking to the media later, Gandhi stressed that there should be a special insurance policy for the people living in border areas.

He also demanded from the Centre that the people affected by shelling should be given appropriate compensation for the loss of lives and property.