Sambit Patra said Pakistan wants Rahul Gandhi to be a big leader in India
Escalating its attack on the Congress, the BJP Monday drew a parallel between the opposition party and Pakistani leaders, saying both want Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed from Indian politics.
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sambit Patra read out tweets attacking PM Modi posted by Pakistani leaders, including its Prime Minister Imran Khan and present and former ministers, and said they have been campaigning for Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
"Some people want Gandhi to become a big leader in India. Who are they? They are Pakistani leaders, and also those who stand for corruption, dynasty and politics of appeasement," Mr Patra told reporters.
He then added that the poor, scheduled castes, backwards and the common man back PM Modi, and "nobody can remove him".
The Congress and Pakistan have this commonality that they have "frustration" with PM Modi, and their "only aim is to remove Modi anyway from Indian polity", he claimed.
Mr Patra accused Rahul Gandhi of targeting the Indian Army by using the term surgical strikes mockingly to attack the Modi government. Pakistan has been using his tweets to attack India, he said.
He also referred to party president Amit Shah's dig at the opposition party, wondering if it has formed a "mahagathbandhan" (grand alliance) with Pakistan against PM Modi.
He said Mr Gandhi and his party should learn from PM Modi as he played a video clip of him, when he was Gujarat chief minister, attacking the then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for allegedly mocking his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.
He also cited past comments of Congress leaders like Mani Shankar Aiyar, Sandeep Dikshit, Salman Khurshid and Ghulam Nabi Azad and mentioned Navjot Singh Sidhu's hug of Pak army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa to attack the opposition party.
While dissent is important in democracy, there should also be dignity for the nation, he said.
The BJP spokesperson claimed that Modi's motto is "all work, no holiday" while that of the UPA government was "no work no headache".