By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday targeted Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi for remaining “silent” on corruption issues and claimed that the “Brand Rahul” did not exist.
BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that he did not hear Rahul Gandhi speak on issues of price rise and corruption, including the raging controversy over coal blocks allocation.
Answering queries about an article pertaining to Gandhi in a foreign magazine, Rudy claimed the Congress general secretary did not speak on the 2G spectrum scam although former communications minister A. Raja went to jail in connection with it.
He said the coal blocks allocation controversy has been doing the rounds for almost a month but Gandhi preferred not to speak on it.
“It has been about a month or so (since the coal block allocation controversy has been making headlines). (But) Never heard him say (anything) about the coalgate. That’s why Brand Rahul does not exist,” Rudy said.
The BJP spokesperson added that whether Gandhi, 42, should assume a bigger role in the Congress was for the Congress party to decide.
“When person is not fit at 42, (based on) what assessment will he be fit at 52? One does not know… Congress has to decide,” Rudy said.
On what kind of fitness he was referring to, Rudy said: “Political, administrative and mental (fitness)”.
It has been speculated that Gandhi would assume a larger role in the Congress and the government, or both, in coming days to improve the party’s electoral prospects in the 2014 general elections.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh had also indicated that Gandhi could assume a bigger role as early as this month.