This Article is From Oct 20, 2016

Congress' Rita Bahuguna Joshi Joins BJP With Fierce Parting Shot At Rahul Gandhi

Rita Bahuguna Joshi, former Uttar Pradesh Congress chief, joined BJP months before assembly elections

Highlights

  • She was unhappy over the party's choice of Sheila Dikshit as its CM face
  • Congress had denied Ms Joshi would follow her brother and join BJP
  • She is the daughter of former UP chief minister Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna
New Delhi: Rita Bahuguna Joshi, a prominent Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh, prefaced her entry into the BJP today with a fierce attack on Rahul Gandhi, alleging that his leadership was acceptable to none.

"The biggest leaders of the Uttar Pradesh Congress have not been able to act under the new leadership. Sonia ji used to listen to us, but that is not happening under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi," alleged Ms Joshi, who joins the BJP just before crucial assembly elections in UP and days after Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi ended a vigorous month-long campaign in the state.

Those efforts will come to naught, predicted Ms Joshi, certain, she said, that UP wants the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for whom she had fulsome praise.

"Not just the UP Congress, but the entire nation is unhappy with the leadership of Rahul Gandhi," Ms Joshi said, adding that Mr Gandhi's criticism of PM Modi after the Indian Army's surgical strikes across the Line of Control or LoC and the Congress' demand for proof had made her "angry."

The 67-year-old politician's move is being seen as a BJP counter to the Congress' pitch for Brahmin votes in UP by fielding former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as the chief ministerial candidate.

But Congress' current UP chief Raj Babbar has dismissed Ms Bahuguna's move, which confirmed rumours that have swirled all week, as insignificant to its prospects in UP.

Ms Joshi has served as the Congress' UP chief and is the daughter of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, one of the tallest leaders of the party and a former chief minister.

Her stock in the Congress is said to have plummeted after her older brother and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna joined the BJP.

During the last UP election in 2012, as Rahul Gandhi had led the party from the front, Ms Bahuguna was prominently just a step behind him everywhere. After results threw up a Congress debacle she had taken the rap as state party chief and said, "Why should a campaigner accept responsibility? It's the candidate and the organisaton that is responsible. Our campaigner did his job brilliantly."
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