Congress is synonymous with kidnapper: BJP

Under consistent attack from the opposition for the alleged flip-flop on black money, the BJP on Tuesday compared the Congress with a "kidnapper" and said the party that ruled India for long did not do much to bring development.

The BJP also hit out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allowing a Pakistan team to look into the Pathankot attack.

"When Congress spokespersons ask where's our Rs.15 lakh every evening, the story is the same as when a kidnapper does it.

"They first kidnap and then move around police to find out what was happening in the case. The Congress is the same kidnapper who abducted India's progress and prosperity and every evening they ask us where is the samriddhi (prosperity)," BJP spokesman Sambit Patra told reporters here.

"All these (progress and prosperity) were abducted by the Congress," he alleged.

Drawing comparison between the BJP-led government and the erstwhile UPA regime, he said the NDA government has made it clear that with regard to black money and the Panama paper leaks, "there is no holy cow before the government".

He cited the instance where the Narendra Modi government within days of taking power set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money.

He claimed, "now we have a government wherein all MPs (belonging to the BJP) have filed affidavits that they do not have any black money. The same gesture has not been shown by Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders".

Slamming Kejriwal, the BJP spokesman said: "Mr. Kejriwal, have a large heart, we might have forgiven you the day you called an elected prime minister a psychopath and a coward. But remember 125 crore Indians will never forgive you, will not forget if you call the prime minister of the largest democracy an ISI agent."

"Mr. Kejriwal has to do lot of answering... what message are you to giving to the international community, whose hands are you strengthening?" he asked.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal had said: "In global forums, India would say that the ISI is responsible for spreading terrorism in India. But by inviting the ISI to India, how will India validate its claim before the international community? The foreign policy of the government has failed miserably."

Patra said the BJP stands committed to its three-point charter of ideological commitments on Pakistan -- first, both countries must continue dialogue, second, talks and terror cannot go together and third, there was no role of third-party intervention in India-Pakistan relations.