Rita Bahuguna Joshi joins BJP, slams Rahul''s leadership

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 20

Ending days of speculation, senior Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi on Thursday joined the BJP, spelling trouble for the grand old party in the poll-bound state while evoking mixed reactions from her new place of mooring.

Surprisingly though, as she heaped praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi (there is no alternative to him and the BJP, she said), Joshi launched a no-holds-barred attack against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi — someone she had been defending with equal fierceness till about a few days back — questioning his leadership and "theka" (contract) given to “PK”— poll strategist Prashant Kishor.

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Rahul’s leadership was unacceptable to many senior Congress leaders, she said.

“The entire world accepted Narendra Modi government's strong action across the PoK but the Congress questioned it," she said, also attacking Rahul for his "khoon ki dalali" remark. Congress’ reaction, she said, undermined the nation and gave a chance to Pakistan to question the Indian Army’s actions.

Joshi said many Congress leaders were upset over the way the party was being run. The party has lost ground and does not provide an alternative in UP, she said.

Read: Bahuguna a betrayer, Amit Shah amassing army of traitors, says Cong

Casting doubts about Rahul’s leadership qualities, she said: “Sonia Gandhi understood the organisation she used to listen to us irrespective of whatever decision she took. But under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi even this is not possible.

“The people of Uttar Pradesh are not ready to accept his leadership just as the whole country. Even senior Congress leaders are not happy with him,” she alleged as she hit out at the leadership for giving the “theka” of the party to outsider Kishore, tauntingly referring to him as “PK”.

It was a difficult choice to leave the Congress of which she had been a part of many years but it was a choice taken for the benefit of the country. “I have served Congress for 24 years and have taken this decision for the benefit of the nation," she said while also making scathing remarks against the incumbent Samajwadi Party for the poor law-and-order situation and corruption prevalent in the state. 

The BJP government means welfare of the state and the country and it had no hidden agenda, she maintained, adding that she had also resigned as MLA in UP.

She also made scathing remarks against the incumbent Samajwadi Party for the poor law-and-order situation and corruption prevalent in the state.

She taunted poll strategist Prashant Kishor, referring to him as PK. Terming it a sad state of affairs in the Congress, she wondered if the party had given him a 'theka' (contract). She criticised the Congress for giving the charge of the UP elections to him.

The BJP government meant the welfare of the state and the country and it had no hidden agenda, she said, adding that she had also resigned as MLA in UP.