Rahul Gandhi should first understand that he's responsible for Congress' poll defeats: BJP

Poonawalla asked Gandhi to stop insulting Kharge with such remarks and calling his party workers 'ghoda (horse), gadha (donkey), babbar sher (lion) and billi (cat)'.

New Delhi: The BJP on Saturday took a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his remarks about his own party leaders and said he should first understand that he is responsible for his party's defeat in elections and stop blaming others for his "failures".

This came after Gandhi, while addressing party workers on the second day of his two-day Gujarat visit, said there was a need to filter out leaders and workers from his party who were working for the BJP and warned of strict action, even removals.

Reacting to his remarks, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, "Rahul Gandhi has trolled himself and his party in Gujarat, and shown a mirror to himself - He was putting blame on Kharge ji and his party workers for his failures."

"He said more than half of his party leaders were in cohorts with the BJP while he got his party defeated in more than 90 elections. In this sense, he is the biggest asset of the BJP," Poonawalla said, taking dig at Gandhi.

"Are you in cohorts with the BJP," the BJP spokesperson asked Gandhi in a video byte posted on X.

Poonawalla asked Gandhi to first evaluate himself to "realise" why he has become a "non-performing asset" for the party, instead putting blame on "electronic voting machines, the election commission, electoral rolls, his party workers and people".

"If getting the party defeated in the election is an art, the artist is Rahul Gandhi," he charged.

The BJP spokesperson also questioned Gandhi for putting his party workers under "race ka ghoda" and "barati ka ghoda" categories and asked him to at least consider them human.

"He said that race ke ghode ko barrat mein laga diya (horses supposed to be deployed in a race were used in the groom's procession to a wedding," Poonwalla said and asked, "Was it a question on the leadership of Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress president)?... Is Rahul Gandhi eyeing Kharge ji's chair (position in party)?"

He asked Gandhi to stop insulting Kharge with such remarks and calling his party workers "ghoda (horse), gadha (donkey), babbar sher (lion) and billi (cat)".

"Introspect on how much your family is responsible for the bad condition of the Congress in Gujarat and the entire country, and take some action," Poonwalla added.