Highlights
- RJD and JD(S) hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, over his remarks against regional parties.
- RJD spokesperson Manoj Kumar Jha called Gandhi’s claims ‘bizarre’.
- JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said Congress is facing a phobia of regional parties.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seems to have landed himself in trouble, after his remark on regional parties during his address at his party’s ‘Chintan Shivir” (brainstorming camp) in Udaipur on Sunday. Gandhi was slammed by leaders of two regional parties, Rashtriya Janata Dal, and Janata Dal (Secular).
While RJD spokesperson Manoj Kumar Jha called Gandhi’s claims ‘bizarre’, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said Congress is facing a phobia of regional parties.
Jha asked Rahul Gandhi to look at recent electoral history of regional parties putting up a strong fight against the BJP as it took a swipe at him for his critical comments aimed at them, saying the Congress leader’s claims were “bizarre” and not in sync with his own party’s stand.
He said regional parties are strong in a majority of Lok Sabha seats in the fight against the BJP, and the Congress should settle to be “co-travellers” and let them be in the “driving seat” in over 320 of the 543 parliamentary constituencies. This is a point RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has also made, he noted.
Meanwhile, in an apparent sarcastic Kumaraswamy asked the former Congress president to elaborate to regional parties about ideological commitment, while saying that the national party has no presence in most parts of the country.
