New govt will review UPA's decision on snoopgate issue: Jaitley

He said the UPA appeared certain that it cannot return to power and had made three unsuccessful efforts in recent days

BJP leader Arun Jaitley Friday said the new government at the Centre will be within its rights to review any "mala fide last-minute" decision taken by the UPA government on the snoopgate controversy and accused the Congress of being "desperate" due to "likelihood" of the NDA coming to power.

In an article on Bharatiya Janata Party's website, Jaitley also referred to Congress president Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's attacks on the party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, saying "attack Modi was the strategy but a dilute Rahul is the consequence".

The leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha said "if discourtesies could win votes, the Congress would secure a landslide victory".

Jaitley said as polling for the Lok Sabha election enters the last phases, the Congress party and its leaders have left the voters "more and more confused".

"The desperation with the idea that there is likelihood of a BJP-NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government, headed by Modi, at the Centre has resulted in courtesies and rationality slipping out of the Congress campaign," Jaitley said.

He said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance appeared certain that it cannot return to power and had made three unsuccessful efforts in recent days.

"First, they tried to appoint two new information commissioners; next, they tried to fill up the quorum of the search committee for appointment of the Lokpal, and last, they are trying desperately to get at least one judge to agree to head the snoopgate commission. I doubt very much if any of these moves are likely to succeed," Jaitley said.

"Even if it did, a future government would be well within its legitimate rights to review such a mala fide last-minute decision of the UPA."

Jaitley's remarks came on a day Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said a judge would be appointed soon to probe the alleged snooping on a woman in Gujarat under the Modi government.

The BJP leader Thursday hoped no judge would agree to be part of the "desperate exercise" of the UPA government for the cause of judicial dignity.

Jaitley said in his article that the Congress had sought to create an impression that the heart and idea of India was still a Congress property but the argument "did not cut much ice".

He claimed that the "eclipse" of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi as the de facto prime ministerial candidate of Congress is virtually complete.

"When he was not seen as being able to deliver, the mother stepped in. The focus has now shifted to the sister. Ostensibly intended to attack Narendra Modi daily in somewhat impolite language, the sister has succeeded in robbing the brother from being in the limelight. Attack Modi was the strategy but a dilute Rahul is the consequence," he said.

Jaitley also targeted Priyanka over her speeches in Amethi and Rae Bareli of Uttar Pradesh.

"Having pushed the brother out of the frame, the sister has to realize that there is much more in politics and the country than only our family," he said.

The politician said the remaining two phases of balloting will see action in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, eastern Uttar Pradesh, parts of Bihar, West Bengal and Seemandhra and Congress was "on the back foot" in most of these areas.

He said the BJP and its allies can create a significant impact in most of these places.

"The BJP leaders and supporters should concentrate only on three issues -- vikas (development), leadership and stability," he said.