Congress fires 4 questions at Ghulam Nabi Azad for 'want BJP to win' claim

Lok Sabha elections: Ghulam Nabi Azad has been campaigning in Jammu and Kashmir for his party candidates.

Hitting back at former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for alluding that the Congress wants BJP to win, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday posed a series of pointed questions to his former party colleague.

Really Janab Ghulam Nabi Azad Sahib?" Jairam Ramesh said as he went to question Azad's perceived closeness to the Narendra Modi government.

Who did all the drama on your retirement from the Rajya Sabha?" he queried, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emotional farewell for Azad.

Ramesh, Congress's in charge of communications, also questioned the alleged preferential treatment given to Azad by the BJP.

"Who is continuing to still occupy a South Avenue bungalow courtesy the BJP?" he asked. “Who has been playing the BJP's game in J&K?”

Ramesh went on to question Ghulam Nabi Azad's acceptance of the Padma Bhushan award. Referring to former Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s refusal to accept the Padma Bhushan, he wrote, “Who accepted the Padma award from the BJP, even as the former CM of West Bengal refused it?”

On Monday, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who left the Congress and formed the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), said that sometimes he feels that the grand old party is allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party as it does not take any steps to strengthen the party.

Sometimes I doubt that Congress is allied with the BJP. Earlier, 23 leaders were fighting for a change in the system in Congress, but the leadership was not listening to anything. When issues were raised, they said that they were talking in the BJP's language. Sometimes I feel that they (Congress) themselves want the BJP to win," Ghulam Nabi Azad told ANI.

He further said that key issues for the parties in the country and this region are poverty, unemployment, and control over inflation.