BJP tears into ‘clueless’ Rahul Gandhi for attacking PM Modi despite wins

A day after Gujarat's election results were announced, a fierce war of words broke out between the Congress and the BJP.

Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that the outcome was "a moral victory" for the Congress and "a massive jolt" for the BJP, and has "raised questions on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's credibility". The BJP won a sixth straight term, but got 16 seats less, compared to the 2012 Assembly elections. The saffron party ridiculed Rahul, saying he was "clueless on how to compete with Modi", and that it was the Congress leader's credibility that was at an all-time low.

In a stinging response, two Union Ministers, Ananth Kumar and Prakash Javadekar, said Gandhi was probably trying to redefine the meaning of "setback".

"Frankly, Modi ji has a credibility problem. His party repeats whatever he says, but the nation is not listening to it. Gujarat polls showed it and it would be clearer in the times to come," Rahul said outside Parliament, in his first interaction after the verdict came on Monday.

Rahul said he learnt only in Gujarat that people actually do not accept the so-called "Modi model" of development as it is "a very good propaganda, very good PR (public relations) stunt, very good marketing" but the model is "khokhla" (hollow) from inside.

Ananth Kumar said that PM Modi's credibility was at its peak, not just in India but globally. He also reminded Rahul that the BJP was in power in 19 states. Kumar said the BJP's vote share of 49.1 per cent in these polls is an improvement over the 47.9 per cent it achieved in 2012.

Javadekar also said, "Yesterday (Monday) the BJP won Gujarat for the sixth consecutive time and also got the mandate in Himachal Pradesh. But today (Tuesday) a new definition has emerged as Rahul Gandhi described the results as a setback for the BJP."

He said that if Rahul thinks that it was a jolt for the BJP, then either "he is changing the definition of jolt or trying not to understand it".

"Those who were saying that development has gone mad, people gave them a severe jolt by reposing their faith in the BJP," he said.

The BJP leader said that since 2014, BJP has formed governments in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Manipur, Assam, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. "While under Rahul Gandhi's leadership they have lost since 2014," he said.

Javadekar further reminded Rahul that his party has not only been losing state elections, but was also defeated recently in civic polls in Rahul's pocket borough Amethi.