BJP hits back at Rahul, calls him non-serious political player
New Delhi, Aug 30 : Hitting back at Congress President Rahul Gandhi for his attack on government over demonetisation and Rafale fighter jet deal, the BJP on Thursday said that he will not succeed in launching his career by repeatedly making false allegations in his "parrot pattern press conferences."
"For the last two years, you have been targeting the government, sometimes by calling GST, Gabbar Singh Tax and sometimes alleging corruption in Rafale deal. You have also been pointing fingers at the government over demonetisation saying it benefitted some 15 industrialists," BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra told a press conference.
He said the people have repeatedly rejected not only the Congress but also the versions presented by Rahul Gandhi.
"He (Rahul Gandhi) appeared today as a very non-serious political player. There was nothing new to offer and only repetition of what he already has said," the spokesperson said.
Gandhi, who addressed a hurriedly called press conference earlier in the day, termed demonetization a scam intended to benefit "15-20 crony capitalist friends" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accused him of lying in the Rafale deal.
"Whatever allegations he has made over demonetisation, people have already answered in 2016 and 2017. During Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the same allegations were leveled by Gandhi. But when the results came out, the BJP got 325 seats while the Congress got only seven. The best judge in democracy is the people," Patra said.
Attacking the Congress President, he cited various scams that allegedly emerged during the Congress regime.
"For Rahul Gandhi, reform is deform. What is reform for the country is akin to deform for Rahul Gandhi," he said.
Countering Gandhi over his claims that Modi government has favoured 15 industrialists, he asked: "Can you tell a single name among them?".
On the charge that the Modi government has destroyed the Indian economy, Patra said many international organisations have pointed out that because of the reforms, India has become an engine of global economy.
About the accusation that the Prime Minister was lying in the Rafale deal, the BJP leader called Gandhi an immature leader who plays with the security of the country and portrays himself as the PM aspirant.
"For 10-11 long years, despite the fact that squadron strength of the Indian Air Force has been drastically come down, your party and your government could do nothing to restore this strength. That amounted to compromising with security of this country," he said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
