INDIA bloc is going downhill and is staring at an existential threat, primarily because of Congress’ opportunistic and self-serving politics, said BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi on Friday. Trivedi’s scathing criticism came in the backdrop of a debacle for Congress candidate in Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand despite the Congress-JMM alliance’s comfortable numerical strength in the Assembly.
The shocking loss for the Congress candidate has triggered a blame game among the key allies, including Congress, JMM and CPI (ML) leaders, thereby exposing the underlying fissures and faultlines within the INDIA alliance. BJP Rajya Sabha MP, when questioned about the INDIA bloc’s viability during a press conference, said that the alliance’s composition is at risk due to increasing rifts and fighting within the Congress party, and that the party is to blame for this.
“INDIA bloc is fast losing relevance as there is nothing left about India in the alliance. After snapping ties with DMK, Congress' only ally left in South India is the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML),” he pointed out, while questioning the foundations and principles on which it was formed.
Mocking the erstwhile Congress-led UPA, he wondered about its current status and whether it had gone into "radioactive decay". He said that the Congress party must introspect on why the grand old party-led coalitions don’t withstand the test of time.
Questioning its opportunistic tendencies, Trivedi said that Jharkhand's results were no surprise but a fallout of its conduct during the Bihar elections. “A JMM minister had stated on record that Hemant Soren-led party was backstabbed and betrayed during Bihar Assembly elections by their own alliance partner as it first promised them a share in seat allocations and then reneged on the same at will,” the BJP leader said, suggesting that the coalition had broken down long back ago and what happened in Rajya Sabha polls yesterday was mere outcome of that opportunism.
When questioned on Congress cadres celebrating Rahul Gandhi’s birthday and equating him with Lord Parshuram, he said that it was up to him and his partymen to shape his legacy. “Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru used to celebrate his birthday as Children’s Day. Congress MP and his supporters can see how they want to remember him,” he said.