Rita joins BJP, says Rahul no leader

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 20

Ending days of speculation, senior Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi today joined the BJP, spelling trouble for the grand old party in the election-bound state.

As she heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi (“there is no alternative to him and the BJP”), she launched a no-holds-barred attack against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, someone she had been defending with equal fierceness till about a few days back. She questioned his leadership and the “theka” (contract) given to “PK” — poll strategist Prashant Kishor.

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Joshi, former president of the UP Congress, is the daughter of the late UP Chief Minister Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna and the sister of former Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna, who joined the BJP some time back.

“The whole world accepted the Modi government’s action across the LoC but the Congress questioned it,” she said, “undermining the nation.”

Joshi said many Congress leaders were upset over the way the party was being run. It had lost ground and did not provide an alternative in UP, she added.

And casting doubts about Rahul’s leadership qualities, she said: “Sonia Gandhi understood the organisation, she used to listen to us irrespective of whatever decision she took. But, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, even this is not possible. The people of UP are not ready to accept his leadership just as the whole country. Even senior Congress leaders are not happy with him.” Stating that she had resigned as an MLA, Joshi said, “I have served the Congress for 24 years and have taken this decision for the benefit of the nation.”