Hitting back at Congress, BJP led by Narendra Modi today taunted it for not naming Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Ministerial candidate saying Sonia Gandhi wanted to save her son from being sacrificed politically in view of "imminent" defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate, while attacking the UPA's policies, unveiled his vision for the country, promising to develop 100 smart cities and set up IITs, IIMs and AIIMS in every state while projecting India as a brand worldwide.
He talked about steps like creation of a 'Price Stabilisation Fund' and having a system of realtime data of agricultural produce to deal with the problem of inflation and creating more job opportunities to deal reduce poverty.
At the National Council here, senior leader L K Advani cautioned the party against "over confidence" citing the example of 2004 even as he praised Modi, whose elevation as PM candidate he had been opposed initially.
The Council adopted a political resolution which attacked the Congress and its government, saying they were responsible for slow economic growth, failure to check terrorism, vote bank politics, and decline of constitutional institutions.
It said Congress had taken the "exit" route by not naming Rahul as PM candidate as he was "no match" to Modi and was equally responsible for the "ills" and "suffering" of the country.
Taking the centre stage on the second and concluding day of the conclave, Modi questioned Congress' contention that it was following the tradition that PM should be elected by party MPs as he cited the case of Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 and Manmohan Singh in 2004.
The BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate also responded to the 'chai wala' barbs at him by Congress leaders by invoking his backward class background and saying that "those born in an aristocratic family" feel below their dignity to contest against a tea vendor because of "feudal mindset".
During his 75-minute speech at the conclusion of the two-day meet, he took digs at Rahul while referring to his address at AICC on Friday and attacked the UPA government over its policies, corruption and price rise.
