BJP leaders knowingly twisted Cong chief's comment on lockdown: Gehlot

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot accused BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on Thursday of knowingly twisting Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's message to party workers on the ongoing nationwide lockdown, saying they did it for the sake of "petty" politics.

"BJP leaders including Amit Shah ji, JP Nadda ji and Prakash Javdekar ji have knowingly twisted Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji's message for their petty politics. In the mid of pandemic this was really uncalled for," he wrote on Twitter.

In a series of tweets, Gehlot said it was baffling that constructive criticism was not being tolerated by the leaders of the saffron party.

"They start reacting and go to the extent of calling the critics anti national. That is why we have to say that they do not believe in democracy, they are fascists and undemocratic," the veteran Congress leader said.

"The Congress President has already made it clear in a letter to the Prime Minister that the entire Congress Party is with him in this time of crisis, he should have welcomed this publicly," he said in another tweet.

"In a democracy, if the opposition points at certain lacunae, even that should be taken in a positive spirit so that things can be improved," Gehlot said.

He added that the points highlighted by Gandhi and the resolution passed by the Congress Working Committee (CWC) should have been taken as constructive criticism by the leaders of the ruling party at the Centre.

Shah on Thursday alleged that the Congress was weakening the country's fight against the coronavirus outbreak and wondered when would the grand old party give priority to national interest over its own.

His comments came in reaction to the government's criticism by Gandhi for the "unplanned" implementation of the countrywide lockdown, which, she said, caused "chaos and pain" to millions.