The Hindu : `BJP maligning Congress image'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 15, 2004

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`BJP maligning Congress image'

JALANDHAR, FEB 14. The Congress has condemned BJP leaders for maligning the image of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his family and said it will ``expose their move to sidetrack the real issues'' in the forthcoming general elections.

At a press conference here today, spokesperson of the AICC Ashwani Kumar said it was ``tyranny that a Prime Minister, who had laid down his life for the unity and integrity of the country, was not spared''. He said the BJP's ``campaign of tyranny'' against Mr Gandhi and his family, even after the departed leader's exoneration in the Bofors case by the Delhi High Court, would not benefit the BJP and its allies in the elections.

Mr Kumar said the BJP leaders were scared of their defeat due to which they had resorted to such malicious campaign against the Congress.

``The Congress will fully utilise its organisational resources to nail the BJP for its calculated design to subvert India's democracy,'' he said.

Criticising BJP's `Shining India' campaign he said the growing unrest among the youth due to unemployment and increase in violence against women and the unresolved issue of women empowerment are sufficient to ``expose the feel good factor of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee''.

Condemning Mr Vajpayee's statements about the construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, Mr Kumar said the Congress would not allow the BJP to divide the nation once again on communal lines. He said the Congress had finalised electoral alliances with 16 national and regional parties and a dialogue was in progress to enter into an alliance with the BSP, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and one regional party in the North-East.

UNI

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`BJP maligning Congress image'