Kerala BJP chief defends 'fraud' remark against Rahul Gandhi, seeks LoP's apology for 'traitor' charge

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Sunday hit back at Chief Minister VD Satheesan over his condemnation of the "fraud" remark, aimed at Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and also sought an apology from the LoP for his "traitor" allegation.

This comes amid a row over a media report claiming differences within the Election Commission of India (ECI), which have been denied by the latter.

Earlier, during a press conference over the controversy, Rahul Gandhi had said: "Traitors will be punished", while seeking an investigation against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

A day before, Chandrasekhar had criticised the Leader of Opposition, saying: "Rahul Gandhi is not Indian politics' greatest creative fabricator. He is India's biggest fraud."

Kerala CM Satheesan condemned the remarks, saying: "Keralam wholeheartedly rejects these baseless allegations against Rahul Gandhi Ji and the Indian National Congress."

The war of words continued on Sunday, with Rajeev Chandrasekhar defending his remarks against the LoP.

Maintaining that he seldom gets into personal attacks on political opponents, the Kerala BJP chief said he was "compelled" to do so in Rahul Gandhi's case.

He claimed that Rahul Gandhi's politics have been "thrown out by tired, angry voters in 2014" since it was solely built on "lies, insults and divisiveness".

In a post on X, Chandrasekhar alleged that Rahul Gandhi's politics "tears down country and country's institutions" and accused the LoP of constantly making "slander and abuse" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and spreading "lies and misinformation" about the government and the BJP.

"All this while his party presides over epic corruption and misgovernance of UPA-era type in states where they are in government," he added.

"I have absolutely no reservation or hesitation in referring to Rahul and his politics - as politics built on fraud and corruption and him as a fraud. Even more so after his latest drama where he referred to Indias elected PM and Election commission as "deshdrohis". That is what should be condemned," Rajeev Chandrasekhar asserted.

Criticising LoP Gandhi for his remarks against the Election Commission and Prime Minister Modi, the Kerala BJP chief emphasised that respect in politics has to be earned through sincere hard work and service for country.

"Throughout Rahul's dynasty entitled "career", he has done neither," he remarked.

Regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Chandrasekhar claimed that Rahul Gandhi's views are "not consistent" with senior leaders of his own party.

"You can huff and puff all you want, fake, dummy and illegal voters must and will be removed from Electoral rolls. All the time. Every time," he added.

Chandrasekhar underlined that he is responding to Satheesan's condemnation, since the latter is the Chief Minister of Kerala.

Responding to the Kerala CM, the BJP leader said: " If you get Rahul to apologize for calling our PM Narendra Modi, a "deshdrohi", and have him apologize to Election Commission for lying, then I promise to stop referring to Rahul Gandhi as a fraud."

"But if you don't take up my offer but persist on using lies, unkept promises, corruption and appeasement as your political strategy, be prepared to be called out as frauds. Every time," he warned.

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