Sushma Swaraj rues decline on quality of poll campaign

New Delhi: BJP leader Sushma Swaraj on Friday rued that the quality of poll campaign had witnessed a fall with personal allegations and counter allegations, in comments which could be seen as directed at own party leaders including Narendra Modi besides those from other parties.

"The elections are warming up and the level of our debate is falling down. The debate should have been on policies, programs and ideology. Unfortunately, it has come down to personal allegations and counter allegations. The language used is harsh and intemperate," Swaraj said in a tweet. The Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Lok Sabha added, "We are the world`s largest democracy. People all over the world are watching us. This is not what they expect from us. We need to exercise the restraint of language. We need to elevate the level of this debate." She did not refer to any particular case but the comments could be seen as directed at leaders of both BJP and Congress. Modi has been accused by Congress of lowering the level of discourse with his "derisive" references to the Gandhi family while BJP has also charged Congress leadership with deviating from the real electoral issues by resorting to personal attacks, including targeting of Modi`s personal life.