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Rahul a victim of 'own falsehood', India rejects negativism of Kejriwal, Mamata: Jaitley

Rahul a victim of 'own falsehood', India rejects negativism of Kejriwal, Mamata: Jaitley

New Delhi, Apr 26 (UNI) On a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi filed his nomination papers from Varanasi and the NDA presented a united face parading all towering leaders Uddhav Thackeray to Parkash Singh Badal and from Nitish Kumar to leaders in northeast, Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has 'chickened out of the contest' in Varanasi.
In a hard hitting blog, Mr Jaitley wrote: "Having to apologise to the Supreme Court for false public narrative, significantly diminishes the credibility of a political leader. Rahul Gandhi became a victim of his own falsehood".
The reference is to Mr Gandhi clarifying before the Supreme Court that his contention interpreting the court's order was made due to the excitement of election campaign.
The development was seen as a major 'legal and moral win' for the BJP as it took away all the powers of Congress party's campaign against the Prime Minister and his government on Rafale.
"These people were only bothered about family and only spoke about 'hamara parivar' and their contribution and created an illusory image. And ultimately what has happened today, she (Priyanka Gandhi) chickened out of the contest," Mr Jaitley told television channels during the day.
The remarks are again significant as there were speculation earlier that the Congress could field Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for the key contest against Prime Minister in Varanasi.
However, the Congress had fielded Ajay Rai, who had contested in 2014 also.
Mr Rai had polled a modest 7 per cent votes - 75,614 in Lok Sabha polls of 2014 much less than 5,81,022 polled by Narendra Modi and 2,09,238 by AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal.
Congress candidate Mr Rai also had lost the 2017 assembly election from Pindra in Varanasi district.
The voting for the much prestigious Varanasi seat will be held on May 19. Notably, there have been different versions to Congress reasoning for not fielding Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was made party general secretary in January this year.
While a known Rahul Gandhi-loyalist Sam Pitroda has said it was Priyanka's call not to contest, another Congress leader Rajeev Shukla has maintained that the final decision was taken by Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
Mr Shukla told reporters: "She (Priyanka) had said at every platform that the Congress president who will decide".
Senior BJP leader Jaitley also reminded the grand old party that new generation would not take up the “negativism” spread by Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee and the TDP.
“The ‘New India’ is a positive India. It does not accept the negativism of Rahul, Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee and TDP. The ‘New India’ wants to look up rather than be cynical and critical about their own country,” Mr Jaitley penned in a Facebook blog.
He further said, “The Congress Party and Rahul Gandhi are 48 years behind the times. 2019 and 1971 are 48 years apart. India’s social combination and economic profile has completely changed. The Congress is contesting the 2019 election on the 1971 agenda. It is not in tune with the times. The writing on the wall is loud and clear. Those who lived a life of entitlement all through, give up when office seems to be a distant dream.”
Taking jibe at the Congress’ main campaigners Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi, Mr Jaitley said, : "When Rahul had to seek cover at Wayanad and Priyanka had to skip Varanasi and feel satisfied not to contest because there was no Wayanad available to her.”
Mr Jaitley said in the past one year, the Congress president’s cooked up stories about Rafale and loan waiver to business houses have struck no chord with the people.
On Rahul Gandhi's political moves, Mr Jaitley said: "The desperation reached a peak when he, without realising that Arvind Kejriwal was playing games with him, offered him four seats contrary to the advice of the State unit. He displayed the desperation of a loser".
Analsying the situation further, he wrote: “Instead of sharing the nationalist mood in the country post Balakot, Rahul Gandhi positioned his party against both the national interest and the national mood. He considered Balakot not a blow to Pakistan sponsored terrorism but to the Congress Party.”
Mr Jaitley said the grand old party also failed in clearing its position on soft separatism when the Kashmir parties took stand on it.
The Congress and the NCP, Mr Jaitley said, have taken the help of MNS chief Raj Thackeray to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, they have not realized the outcome of their move in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other North Indian states.
UNI SW-DEVN RSA 1805

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