BJP attacks Rahul over 'mohabbat ki dukaan' pitch, says his shop is of lies

Senior BJP leader Avinash Rai Khanna has attacked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his "mohabbat ki dukaan" pitch, saying his shop is only of lies.

In a speech at an event in the US earlier this week, Gandhi had referred to his slogan made during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, during which he had said "nafrat ke bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukan kholenge" (in the market of hate, shops of love will be opened).

He had also criticised the BJP, saying that "India has understood that it cannot go forward with the type of hatred that the BJP is spreading in society".

On Thursday evening, Khanna said here that "whatever Rahul (Gandhi) ji is speaking on foreign soil, I think that nothing could be more dirty, bad and wrong than this".

He also cited that "when we (the BJP) were in the Opposition, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee was our leader, the then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao had sent Atal ji in a delegation abroad. At that time, Atal ji had praised the government on foreign soil".

On Gandhi's "mohabbat ki dukaan" remark, Khanna said, "He has a shop, which is only of lies."

The BJP leader also said that if "we are speaking against the prime minister (on foreign soil), then we are speaking against the country".

"He has shown his intelligence. The country has rejected him. How can the world accept him?" Khanna said while hitting out Gandhi.

The BJP leader, who is also the party's Himachal Pradesh in-charge, said the NDA government has removed a number of signs of "servitude", and schemes are made keeping in mind the poor.

Khanna, who was the Lok Sabha MP from Hoshiarpur from 2004 to 2009, also claimed that the BJP government is the first government which is going to people with its report card. "And, people have the confidence that the BJP fulfils whatever it promises," he said.