To 'expose' BJP, Congress to hold media conferences in 22 cities

New Delhi, July 09: Seeking to corner the ruling BJP over the issue of terror and its alleged links with terrorists, the Congress will on Saturday hold a series of press conferences in 22 cities across the country.

Congress leaders said the aim is to counter the BJP's "fake nationalism claims" and to take the message to the grassroot level that the ruling party has "connections" with individuals who have indulged in heinous crimes and terror acts.

"Today, 22 of our senior leaders and spokespersons will hold press conferences in 22 cities to expose the "links of terrorists with BJP"," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet in Hindi, alleging that "evidence of terrorists having links with the BJP has come out".

"The BJP has links with terrorists, what is this relationship called?" he posed in the tweet.

The Congress has alleged that Riyaz Akhtari, one of the prime accused in the killing of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Rajasthan's Udaipur was a BJP member. It has also released his photographs purportedly with BJP leaders in Rajasthan. The BJP, however, has denied any link with such elements and claimed that some of them had clicked pictures with its leaders after infiltrating the party ranks.

The Congress also claimed that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Talib Hussain Shah who was caught by people in Reasi town in Jammu and Kashmir recently was an office-bearer of the BJP's minority cell in the Union Territory, a charge denied by the BJP leadership.

Congress leader Pawan Khera has asked how Talib Hussain Shah, who was allegedly planning to attack the Amarnath Yatra in Kashmir, was seen in a photograph with Amit Shah. He wondered whether it was not a security breach.

This is the second series of press conferences being organised by the Congress after the first such effort was made against the new Agnipath military recruitment scheme.

The Congress has decided to take the BJP head-on over issues of national importance, and the party will continue to hold countrywide pressers to take its message to the people and to "expose" the claims of the BJP.

Top Congress leaders who are going to address the press conferences include Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda in Ahmedabad, Shaktisinh Gohil in Jaipur, Ajoy Kumar in Mumbai, Uttar Kumar Reddy in Bangalore, former Union minister M M Pallam Raju in Chennai, media and publicity head Pawan Khera in Raipur, Rajeev Gowda in Kolkata, Ranjeet Ranjan in Guwahati and Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka in Visakhapatnam.