Rahul does not love anyone but power: BJP

Launching a sharp attack on Rahul Gandhi, the BJP on Tuesday said that contrary to his claim in a tweet, the Congress President does not love anyone but power.

The Bharatiya Janata Party also alleged that there was a competition between AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi and the Congress to "usurp" the legacy of "divide and rule".

"Rahul Gandhi has claimed in a tweet that he loves all living beings. The fact is that he doesn't love any living being but only a non-living thing called the throne of power," BJP spokesman Sambit Patra said at a press conference here.

He said when Gandhi says that Congress is the party of the Muslims, it is a breach of trust of the "last person in the last queue with whom Rahul Gandhi claims to be standing with".

"You say you are with the last person in the queue, which is the ideology of Deen Dayal Upadhyay, but the Congress for so many years was not with this last person in the queue. So the last man is now also not with you," Patra said.

"You cheated the last man for 70 years and now when you say that the Congress is a party of Muslims, it is also a breach of trust of the last person in the queue or the most marginalised," he added.

A few hours earlier, Rahul Gandhi had said: "I stand with the last person in the line. The exploited, marginalised and the persecuted. Their religion, caste or beliefs matter little to me. I seek out those in pain and embrace them. I erase hatred and fear. I love all living beings. I am the Congress."

The tweet, not directed at any individual or a party, apparently came in response to the BJP's unabated criticism over his reported remark that the Congress was a party of Muslims.

Reacting to Gandhi's tweet, Patra said: "There is a sense of competition between Rahul Gandhi and Asaduddin Owaisi as to who would usurp the ideology of (Muhammad Ali) Jinnah to a complete extent."

"Owaisi has asked the percentage of the Muslims in the army and paramilitary forces. They are trying to divide the army and trying to bring religion into the army," Patra said.

"Congress leader Veerappa Moily seems to second Owaisi by saying that Muslims are indeed underrepresented in the army. BJP rejects the politics of division and believes in 'sabka sath, sabka vikas'," he said.

--IANS

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