BJP hits back at Cong leader's terror quip

Hitting back at the Congress over Shakeel Ahmed’s remark that the 2002 Gujarat riots had led to the creation of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday accused the ruling party of “communalising the polity” for electoral gains.

The Congress, however, distanced itself from its general secretary’s comment. “It is not the party line as of now,” party spokesperson Renuka Choudhary told reporters here when asked about Ahmed's tweet on the issue which led to a political controversy on Sunday.

The BJP, however, took on the Congress over Ahmed’s remark, saying this was yet another “desperate attempt” to communalise the issue of national security.

“Faced with both the crisis of governance and a lack of leadership, the UPA’s desperate strategy appears to be to deflect the agenda. The last few weeks have witnessed a crude attempt by UPA leaders at this strategy. The UPA has only one option left:  Communalise the polity in the country and change the electoral agenda,” said Arun Jaitley.

The senior BJP leader said the “conventional Congress strategy” in such a situation had been to bank on the alleged “charisma of the Congress first family”.

Ahmed, however, remained unmoved and tweeted again: “Surprised by the hype in media on my tweet of July 21 regarding NIA's charge sheet.”

Earlier in the day, he said in another tweet: “No sane person can justify the terror acts of IM or any other outfit.”