Sushil Modi calls Priyanka 'woman with tainted life partner'

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi launched a vitriolic attack on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday, a day after she entered active politics, saying the Congress was feeling happy "over the induction of a woman with a tainted life partner".

In a tweet, the senior BJP leader also scoffed at Priyanka Gandhi's resemblance with her grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

"If a person could become as capable as someone else merely by resembling him or her, by now we would have had many more Virat Kohlis and Amitabh Bachchans. Duplicates do not work in politics. Priyanka might resemble Indira, but there is a big difference," Modi said.

He also compared Priyanka Gandhi's husband and businessman Robert Vadra with Indira Gandhi's spouse Firoz Gandhi.

The deputy chief minister said Firoz Gandhi was a good orator and an upright parliamentarian "who had the guts to speak against his powerful father-in-law", Jawaharlal Nehru.

"Priyanka's businessman husband's irregular land transactions are spread across two states and he is facing probes. If the Congress wants to exult over the induction of a woman with a tainted life partner, it is most welcome to do so," Modi said.

Earlier, talking to reporters here on the sidelines of a function, he had claimed that Priyanka Gandhi's induction into the Congress was aimed at "threatening the SP-BSP alliance".

Priyanka Gandhi formally entered politics on Wednesday with her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi appointing her as general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East.

Modi said her appointment would bring the alleged corruption scandals against Robert Vadra onto the "centre-stage", which would benefit the NDA.

"The BJP is not at all worried. Why should it be when her entry is only going to help us. The Congress has brought in Priyanka with a view to threaten the SP-BSP alliance, with the possibility of a split in their votes. It is a desperate attempt to make Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati rethink their strategy," he said.