The BJP has seized the comments made by Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi on PM Modi.
As an upset Congress today publicly chastised its party veteran Janardan Dwivedi for comments that were seen as praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a BJP leader sneered that many in the Congress can now see what the nation saw last year.
"What the nation can see about Modi ji's leadership is now clear to Congress leaders too," union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy remarked.
Mr Rudy said Janardan Dwivedi's statement exposes internal strife in the Congress. "Many Congress leaders seem to see Narendra Modi's governance as capable. The Congress is coming to an end. Continuous failure is breaking the party," he said.
Facing his party's wrath, Mr Dwivedi today issued a denial.
"Who has said Modi is a symbol of Indianness? Those are not my words," he said just after Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken "condemned in the strongest words" his purported comment in an interview to news website rediff.com that Mr Modi's victory in the general elections last year was "a victory of Indianness."
Yesterday, Mr Dwivedi, also a party spokesperson and a Rajya Sabha member, was reportedly ordered by the party to issue a clarification after the website posted the interview quoting the Congress leader as saying the election of Mr Modi is the start of a "new era."
Mr Dwivedi clarified the "new era" remark then, but had not tried to defend or deny the one on "Indian-ness," causing deep embarrassment to his party just before crucial elections in Delhi next month.
Another Congress leader, Shashi Tharoor, has been repeatedly criticized by party men for openly admiring PM Modi. Mr Tharoor, one of the party's 44 Lok Sabha members, was dropped as a spokesperson in October for praising the PM once too often. He was again reprimanded last week by the party for making new remarks seen as praise for the PM.