The Prime Minister and Rahul Gandhi are pulling no punches. And their target is LK Advani. The issues weren't new - Kandhar, Babri Masjid, the Gujarat riots and on who's weak, Advani or Manmohan.
But what is different is the tone and tenor of their attack. The PM began his press conference in Mumbai on Mondya by releasing a statement, part of which read:
"Advani has the unique ability to combine strength in speech with weakness in action."
The PM said: "Weakness or strength doesn't come from loud speaking, it comes from determination in tougher times. Look at the response of the government when the plane was hijacked and our response to 26/11. If u look at what Mr Advani said on Walk the Talk on NDTV in an interview to Mr Shekhur Gupta....he said that he didn't know about the Kandahar episode. What does that tell you about his control?"
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, on his part, said: When Kandahar happened, the terrorist who was released went and carried out numerous attacks. Mr Advani stated that he did not know of the flight to Kandahar of Jaswant Singh or the three people being released. If he was such a strong leader how could the Home Minister not know something so fundamental. There are only two possibilities: That his leader did not trust him or he was not telling the truth."
After his fierce attack on Advani, it seems that Manmohan the economist has become Manmohan the politician.
