Sonia Gandhi's televised appeal to voters today led BJP to take a jibe at the Congress that Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha poll campaign was "not working" and coin a new slogan 'Mein Nahin, Mom' (Not me, Mom)' for the rival party.
Narendra Modi while taking a swipe at Sonia for her appeal in multiple TV channels last night said it reflected her realisation that her son had not delivered on the election front. "All of a sudden Sonia Gandhi has come to the fore to take charge of the (election) campaign. She had thought that her son would do something. But when nothing happened. What could she do? The mother herself had to come to the fore, appear on TV to deliver advertised messages to the nation," the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate said. "You must have seen this paid news. They have lots of money, they can buy TV (channels), they can buy time on TV and tell what they want to say," Modi said addressing a rally in Bhagalpur in Bihar.
Sonia had appealed to people to defeat "divisive and autocratic" forces which will "destroy" the Indian ethos. She also used the prime TV time to position the Lok Sabha polls as an epoch making battle to protect the "very heart and soul of India". Modi said when Gandhi says her party respects democratic traditions, it is something that cannot be easily digested. BJP leader Arun Jaitley also took potshots at Congress, saying that the party had been forced to change its principal communicator since Rahul's speeches to the people were "not working".
Taking a jibe in a post on his website, he said the new slogan of Congress is 'Mein Nahin, Mom' (Not me, Mom) and claimed that last minute attempts to change electoral agenda through paid television time would not click. "The Congress Party changed track yesterday. Rahul Gandhi-led campaign and the accompanying advertisements were given a backseat. The Congress President Sonia Gandhi herself decided to lead from the front. She addressed the country by booking television time on all channels," he said. "The idea was to change the principal communicator of the party from the son to the mother," he said.
The BJP leader, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Amritsar, said the act of bring Sonia messages on TV was an expression of "lack of confidence in Rahul Gandhi, in as much as his speeches to the people were not working." "Messages on paid television time cannot last minute change the electoral agenda. Price rise, mismanagement of the economy, corruption, dilution of the office of Prime Minister cannot be a part of either 'Bhartiyata' or 'Hindustaniat'. This message will not click," Jaitley said.
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