By IANS
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) termed Sunday’s reshuffle of the union council of ministers as an attempt to project “sacrifice and self-denial” of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who refused to take up a ministerial post.
The BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) kept away from the swearing-in ceremony of new ministers. Even the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) or the Third Front leaders were not present on the occasion.
Asked about the reason for BJP’s absence, spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: “The reshuffle was a projection of the so-called sacrifice and self-denial of Rahul Gandhi as he had refused to join the cabinet despite Congress leaders repeatedly pleading with him to do so.”
Naqvi said the Congress was harping on how Rahul had taken such a big step just as his mother and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had refused the prime ministerial post in 2004 when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power.