File Photo: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi
The name-calling that marred the just-concluded parliament session has not subsided. 'How many times will Rahul Gandhi be repackaged?" asked the ruling BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad today, accusing the Congress No 2 of being short of ideas and principles in politics. "He has two modes: hit and run, and spit and run," said Mr Prasad, who is a union minister.
The BJP says that in the bitterness of their sizeable electoral defeat last year, Mr Gandhi and his mother Sonia are impinging upon the country's economic potential by using their party to obstruct major reforms. The Congress deployed its lean group of 44 Lok Sabha members to procure repeated adjournments of parliament- not one day among the three-week session was free of chaos, ensuring that proposals seen as essential for economic recovery - including the Goods and Sales Tax and new labour laws- were taken up for discussion.
The Congress says it has an unbending one-point agenda: the PM must remove three of his colleagues, including Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, on charges of corruption. Mr Gandhi has recalcitrantly pledged that unless that happens," the Congress will not keep quiet". The 45-year-old, often accused by critics of lacking the acuity and rigor required of mainstream politics, has front-lined his party's demonstrations along with his mother and party boss, Sonia. Earlier this week, in an uncharacteristically dramatic speech in parliament, Mr Gandhi said the PM, who was missing, "does not have the guts "to attend important debates.
The BJP has commissioned a nationwide campaign to warn voters that the Congress is imperiling economic growth. Comparing the party's behaviour in parliament to the Emergency, the PM yesterday told his law-makers, "The BJP exists to serve the country. The Congress exists to serve one family."
Describing Mr Gandhi as "an expert without knowledge", BJP leaders have underscored that the leader took a two-month time-out during the crucial budget session of parliament -ample proof, they say, of wavering interest in and commitment to his day job.