Ishrat & Uttarakhand: BJP to pay back Cong in its own coin

New Delhi, July 5: The BJP will take on the Congress-led UPA government on the same issues that the latter was targetting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, namely, the Ishrat Jahan case and Uttarakhand tragedy.

At the party meeting held here on Thursday and which was attended by Modi, the chief of its poll campaign committee, it was decided that the said issues will be taken to the people.

The BJP feels the Ishrat Jahan case will be counter-productive for the UPA since the CBI did not mention the names of Modi and his aide Amit Shah in the chargesheet filed on Wednesday.

The principal opposition will now take up the opportunity to hit back at the government over the way the security agencies have been treated in the case. The BJP believes that government will face a backlash for allegedly turning one security agency against the other (CBI and IB) and that the encounter was given more importance than the fact that killed were Lashkar operatives will send wrong signal. The BJP feels a probable resentment in the IB would make it difficult for the government.

The party is also eyeing to capitalise on the Uttarkhand calamity by making it a national issue. The BJP has decided to conduct a three-day campaign beginning on July 13 to gather funds for the devastated state besides holding prayers for the affected across the country on July 16.

The Uttarakhand disaster saw a humanitarian crisis, the largest in recent times, while parties drew flak for politicising the issue. The Congress criticised Modi for his 'Rambo act' of evacuating 15,000 Gujaratis from the state, followed by BJP's ally Shiv Sena and the JD(U), which withdrew from the NDA recently.

Senior party leader L K Advani attended Thursday's meeting after resigning from all top posts of the party to protest Modi's elevation and subsequent withdrawal. He was seen sitting next to Modi, a gesture which many believe was to signal that all differences in the BJP have been settled.

The parliamentary board met for two hours to discuss various issues. Later, general secretaries and members of the programme implementation committee also participated.

Meanwhile, there were talks that Modi could fight the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

OneIndia News