With two rounds of polling left, the BJP on Thursday stepped up its offensive against the ‘first family’ of  the Congress by reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s allegations that former PM Rajiv Gandhi misused INS Viraat for a family vacation. At the same time, the BJP also questioned Congress’ ‘NYAY’ scheme in the backdrop of its “ low credibility” in practicing what it preaches.

Going hammer and tongs against Congress, BJP leader Arun Jaitley  said while  “Kaamdars” (self-made hardworking like Modi) used India’s naval fleet  to strike at terror, “naamdars” (dynast like Rajiv)  used them for personal reasons.

Modi, during an election rally on Wednesday, had accused Rajiv and his family of using warship INS Viraat as

its “personal taxi” for a holiday when Rajiv Gandhi was India’s prime minister between 1984-89.

 In a separate tweet, Jaitley said that the Congress  which had blamed DMK for Rajiv’s assassination has now tied up with the regional party in Tamil Nadu during the ongoing general election. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu.

 “From December 1990 till May 1991, when Shri Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, the Congress Party-supported Chandra Shekhar government was in power. “From May 1991 till 2004, the Congress blamed its present ally the DMK for Shri Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. It even withdrew support from the United Front government on this ground. 28 years later, today a desperate Congress has discovered a BJP role,” Jaitley said.

Jaitley’s remark came in response to senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel’s assertion that the BJP-backed V P Singh government had refused to provide Rajiv Gandhi with additional security and left the former prime minister with one PSO despite credible intelligence inputs and repeated requests

The BJP, for its part, alleged through its official Twitter handle that it was on the instruction of Rajiv Gandhi that the 1984 anti-Sikh riots happened.

Senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari too alleged that Congress has lost all

political credibility when it comes to addressing the issue of poverty.

Gadkari took a dig at Rahul’s  proposed “Nyay” scheme by invoking Congress prime ministers, who, he claimed, had vowed to eradicate poverty and failed.

Addressing a press conference,  Gadkari further alleged that the Congress had deliberately created “fear” in the minds of the minorities to divert attention from performance, work and development, which should have been the issues in the ongoing Lok Sabha election.

“The Congress has no credibility. After 1947, (then prime inister Jawaharlal) Nehru said he will remove poverty. Then Indira Gandhi said this. She used the slogan of removing poverty and won elections), but poverty did not go. Then Rajiv Gandhi repeated that, then Sonia Gandhi and then Manmohan Singh, but poverty did not go.

“Now, even Panditji’s (Nehru) great-grandson is saying the same thing. If he (Congress chief Rahul Gandhi) will remove poverty by giving Rs 72,000, then what did Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Manmohan Singh do? That is why the political credibility of the Congress in removing poverty has ended,” he said.

He further alleged that the Congress had a history of injustice and since 1947, it had been responsible for “wrong economic policies, bad and corrupt governance and visionless leadership”.

“So, ‘Nyay’ will not happen, because with justice, the person doling it out should also be trustworthy,” he said.

Gadkari also lashed out at the opposition party for the abuse it had meted out to  Modi during its poll campaign and said he had a list of 56 such abuses.

“One, fear is their biggest capital. Create fear in the minds of Dalits, minorities, SCs and STs. Two, ensure that a discussion on the work done in five years, which had not happened in 50 years, does not take place. If the discussion revolves around development, then they know they will be in trouble,” he said.

“Last time during the Kumbh, the prime minister of Mauritius could not go for a bath in the Ganga.... This time, 20 crore people visited the Kumbh and took bath in the river. For the first time, the Ganga was pure and clean.

“We did what we promised. We made the waterways and that is why (Congress leader) Priyanka (Gandhi Vadra) could travel from Prayagraj to Varanasi on a boat while abusing us continuously,” he said hitting out at them.