BJP has no courage to face Congress: Imran Pratapgarhi

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi on Monday declared that the BJP does not have the courage to face his party in Parliament, apparently referring to the absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Lok Sabha during the ongoing Budget session, currently on a break and scheduled to reconvene on 9 March.

"Those who dream of a Congress-mukt Bharat do not have the courage to come to Parliament and face the Congress," he said while addressing the party's Paigam-e-Mohabbat programme in Rajasthan's capital Jaipur.

Pratapgarhi termed the India-US trade deal a result of a "conspiracy" against farmers and small traders, and said its consequences would be visible soon.

He said the country was going through a difficult phase, and a ray of hope exists in Rahul Gandhi. "We are salesmen of Rahul's 'mohabbat ki dukan'. Salesmen of hatred are roaming in different parts of the country. If a leader is strong, he shows the way. Big hatred may be there, but love wins in the end," he said at the event organised by the party's minority department.

"Rahul Gandhi is changing the direction in which the winds blow in this difficult time," Pratapgarhi, also the AICC minority department chairman, said.

He said lakhs of people stood with Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. "Rahul Gandhi has walked against hatred, but BJP leaders could not walk even four kilometres against hatred," he said.

Congress Rajasthan president Govind Singh Dotasra said the party would strongly challenge the BJP government in the state. Targeting BJP MLA Balmukund Acharya, he said sometimes he has a problem with the loudspeakers, sometimes with carts, and sometimes with the poor.

"An MLA's job is to ensure communal harmony in his constituency, focus on development and raise public welfare issues before the government. There is no need to pay attention to such people," he said.

He said that whether it was the UPA government or the previous Congress government in the state, they did so much work that the BJP couldn't even come close.

"Modi became prime minister by misleading the country. He won the first Lok Sabha election by lying, fought the second hiding behind the valour of the Army, and won the third by vote chori (theft). A person who cannot win elections on his own strength or present his policies seeks accountability from Congress for 70 years but cannot give an account of his own 10 years. They will have to be exposed before the public," he said.