UPA behind disruption of Rushdie's address: Arun Jaitley

BJP leader Arun Jaitley today accused the Congress-led UPA of being behind the last-minute disruption of author Salman Rushdie's video address at Jaipur Literature Festival to garner Muslim votes in the five poll-bound states.

Talking to reporters here, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha said the votebank politics of Congress-led UPA had led it to play a highly questionable role in the entire Rushdie episode to please fundamentalists.

"Under no law, did the Congress government in Rajasthan have the right to stop Rushdie from addressing the literature festival through video conferencing," he said.

He also accused Congress of playing the communal card by promising reservation to minorities under the OBC quota.

On Punjab politics, he alleged there was severe infighting within the state Congress which would help the ruling SAD-BJP alliance to form the government again.

He said Congress was known for its arrogance and could never be humble with the common masses, whereas on the contrary SAD-BJP remained people-friendly.

Jaitley said the factor will work in favour of the alliance and help it get another term in office.