Rahul Gandhi's emotive pitch today in which he invoked the killing of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi was slammed by opposition BJP and CPI as an attempt to garner votes since he had nothing "positive" to talk about the UPA government's performance.
The Congress on its part said the speeches of its Vice President in poll-bound Rajasthan showed he spoke from the heart, which will have its resonance across the country.
Nitin Gadkari, a former BJP president, while accusing Rahul of promoting dynastic politics, said he was talking about his family's sacrifices for "selfish political interests".
"It is very unfortunate that Rahul has spoken about assassination of his grandmother and illness of his mother during electioneering and made emotional appeal to the people to vote for the Congress," senior BJP leader Ravishanker Prasad told reporters in Patna.
"It's very mean on the part of the Congress Vice-President to harp on the sacrifices made by his family about which the country already knows," he said, adding that the emotional appeal made by Rahul, at the same time, explains the fact that he has nothing positive to talk about the performance of the UPA government for nearly two terms.
Prasad said Rahul's speeches in Rajasthan also explains that his government had nothing to offer as far as the problems of Modern India is concerned.
"He is talking about sacrifices of his family. It is only for his selfish political interests... I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that Mahatma Gandhi used to say that it is not about the people, but the country. Country is bigger than the people," Gadkari told reporters in Delhi.
CPI leader A B Bardhan said Rahul should instead spell out policies that can guide the country out of crises facing it.
"Rahul has been speaking about emotional issues related to his family quite often during his public speeches recently ... I can understand his mindset when he says it. It is natural that he is gripped by emotions at times and talk about it publicly. But the people are not interested in them," Bardhan told reporters in Patna.
Congress spokesperson Meem Afzal said Rahul has spoken from the heart. "The voice of heart reaches many hearts and to far off. It will have its resonance throughout the country."
Responding to Rahul's allegation that BJP is behind the recent Muzaffarnagar communal violence and other riots in the past, BJP spokesperson Sudanshu Trivedi claimed that these issues were raised to divert attention from the current core issues of price rise, corruption and malgovernance.
