BJP leader links criticism of Banerjee, Sitharaman's husband to 'ecosystem' against party

A senior BJP leader on Tuesday linked Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee's comments and an article written by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's husband, criticising the Modi government's economic policies, to an "ecosystem" that, he suggested, worked against the saffron party whenever elections were around.

"Eco system on the roll again as polling dates of Haryana & Maharashtra draws nearer. Manmohan Singh will address press on Oct 19. Abhijith Bannerjee (sic) starts giving interviews. Parakala Prabhakar of yesteryears comes out suddenly. Welcome all for a 5 day fame," BJP general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh said in a tweet.

In a newspaper article published on Monday, Sitharaman's husband Prabhakar took a swipe at the BJP-led government over its economic vision and asked it to embrace the economic architecture offered by former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao and the then finance minister Manmohan Singh.

The opinion piece of Prabhakar, who has been in several political parties and is a former communications adviser to the Andhra Pradesh government, attracted wide publicity.

Banerjee, who has often criticised the Modi government's economic decisions, was on Monday announced as a winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

Assembly polls are scheduled to be held in Maharashtra and Haryana on October 21 and the results will be declared on October 24.