Ramesh's tendency to stir controversies harming Congress: BJP on his remarks on NITI Aayog meeting

New Delhi: The BJP on Saturday slammed Jairam Ramesh for his remarks on the NITI Aayog meeting, saying the Congress leader will finish off his party with his tendency to create controversy over some or other issues.

"This is a meeting of Team India to take decisions for the country's development. Jairam Ramesh is finding fault in this too," BJP national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said.

Calling the NITI Aayog an "Ayogya" (unfit) body, Ramesh, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, hit out at the Centre and alleged its meeting was yet another exercise in "hypocrisy and diversion".

Reacting sharply, Hussain said the Congress leader keeps finding faults in every meeting convened by the government to create some controversy.

"Jairam Ramesh Congress ki Ram Ram kar ke hi chodenge (Jairam Ramesh will finish off the Congress)," he told PTI Videos.

The Congress leader's comments came as NITI Aayog's 10th Governing Council meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, began here on Saturday.

The theme of the meeting is 'Viksit Rajya for Viksit Bharat@2047'.

The BJP spokesperson described NITI Aayog's meeting as "Team India's meeting" and assailed the Congress for objecting to it.

"NITI Aayog is a big institution of the country. It makes policies for the country. In its meeting, eminent people, including chief ministers, are sitting together to make the country develop. The Congress has started objecting to it also," Hussain said.

The BJP leader also took a swipe at Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his visit to Jammu and Kashmir.

"'Bahut der kar di huzoor aate aate' (It took you a long time to visit)," he said, reciting a couplet from a popular Hindi film song.

"Recently, he went to Bihar to do politics at Ambedkar Hostel. Now, he is missing the people of Poonch and Uri," Hussain said.

The Indian Army has given such a befitting reply to Pakistan that it is still feeling the pain, he said.

Gandhi on Saturday met the victims of cross-border shelling by Pakistani troops in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch and described the damage caused as a "big tragedy", pledging to highlight their plight at the national level.

The Congress leader visited Poonch town and interacted for over an hour with the affected population, including the families who lost their members in the shelling between May 7 and May 10.