Rahul trying in vain to defend support to 'traitors': BJP

New Delhi, Feb 18: Countering Rahul Gandhi's offensive, BJP today said he has hit a "new low" by supporting "anti-national" voices after he met the President over JNU row, and accused Congress of politicising the issue to derail government's developmental agenda ahead of Budget Session.

Accusing Congress of "crying over death of terrorists", BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said Rahul's meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee and his assertion that nationalism runs in his blood was meant to "defend" himself after his stand on the issue "sparked anger in the country".

Sharma alleged that it was the height of Congress' anti-development politics and its malice against the Modi government that it had aligned itself with anti-national voices after "manufacturing" several campaigns earlier. "Rahul Gandhi has fallen to a new low.

There is deep anger in the country over what happened in the JNU and his support to traitors who raised slogans against India.... His visit to the President and what he said later was an attempt to defend himself. "One wonders what is there in the blood of Congress that makes it cry over the death of terrorists and coin terms like 'Afzal Guruji' and 'Hafiz Sahab'," he told the media.

Rejecting Rahul's attack on the RSS, Sharma said he kept repeating what he had "rehearsed" and that his family has a history of "abusing" the Hindutva outfit to remain in power. "RSS has only grown stronger with their attacks," he said. While the Left has a record of siding with such anti- India forces, he alleged, now Congress has also joined hands with them.

"They are politicising the issue for petty and selfish political reasons. It is their intolerance to the developmental agenda of the Modi government. There is massive 'Make in India' exercise going on and these parties are trying to divide people for their vote bank politics," Sharma said.

PTI