New Delhi, July 19: A day after BJP raked up the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin and described her as inexperienced and "security threat", Congress hit back questioning "aging octogenarian" Atal Bihari Vajpayee's competence to lead the nation. "The attack is mean, malignant and beneath contempt.....We don't want to make any personal attack.....Vajpayee's advancing years and sinking health need more time for rest," party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy told reporters at a special party briefing here.
Condemning as "totally objectionable and outrageous utterance" dubbing of Gandhi as security threat if she became Prime Minister, Reddy said this indicated the "moral and cultural bankruptcy of BJP as political party". When told that BJP had later made amends to the statement, Reddy quipped, "Any amount of explanation does not wash away the original sin."
BJP spokesman Muktar Abbas Naqvi had said in Raipur yesterday, "We have no problem with Congress making Sonia Gandhi or even Pervez Musharraf its president but projecting her as Prime Minister could raise questions among the people about national interest and security." Later, Union minister Arun Jaitley sought to retract the statement.
In a rare attack on the Prime Minister, the Congress spokesman sought to puncture BJP's claims about the competence, ability and experience of Vajpayee and was unfazed over the saffron party's plans to turn the next Lok Sabha elections into an Atal-Sonia faceoff. Bureau Report