A series of hoardings targeting opposition leaders over their alleged contrasting positions on the Election Commission appeared in the national capital on Wednesday, ahead of the INDIA bloc meeting.
Although the posters did not identify their source, the BJP separately criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, claiming opposition parties had begun questioning his leadership even before the meeting got underway.
Ashish Usha Agrawal, national convenor of the BJP Media Department, said questions were already being raised about Gandhi’s leadership.
“Who all will distance themselves from Rahul Gandhi will become clear today in the INDIA alliance meeting,” he said in a post on X on Wednesday.
Quoting a Hindi couplet, Agrawal said, “And if some faces appear different, then for Rahul Gandhi, all one can say is: Some compulsions must have been there; no one becomes unfaithful without a reason.”
“The question now is not just about the meeting, but about the trust in Rahul Gandhi’s leadership,” he added.
One hoarding was divided into two panels, headed “When they win” and “When they lose”. Under the former, it carried the statement, “SIR may have helped Congress”, attributed to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, while the latter quoted him as saying, “ECI is not doing its job”.
The hoarding ended with the line: “ECI same. The story changes.”
A second hoarding was headlined “Hypocrisy at its peak”. Under a “Winning” tag, it quoted Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee as saying, “There is no substance in the allegation against the EC.” Under a “Losing” tag, it quoted former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee as saying, “Chief Election Commissioner should be arrested”.
A third hoarding, in Hindi and English, described the “INDI Alliance” as having “double standards”. Its tagline read: “Jeete to ECI ko taali, haare to ECI ko gaali”, meaning applause for the ECI in victory and criticism of it in defeat. It featured photographs of several opposition leaders, including Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi.
TMC leader Derek O’Brien objected to the use of the term “INDI alliance”, pointing out that the full name of the opposition bloc is Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
“Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). BJP deliberately distorts and refers to it as INDI alliance. Godi media. Please call it by its name: INDIA. Thank you,” he said in a post on X.
Top INDIA bloc leaders are scheduled to meet in Delhi on Wednesday to finalise an action plan for a joint agitation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and to press for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.
The meeting comes amid an ongoing dispute over the Election Commission’s decision-making. Sources said a draft notice for a fresh attempt to move a motion in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha seeking Kumar’s removal was ready and would be discussed at the meeting for approval.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal, TMC leaders Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, and leaders from the Samajwadi Party, CPI, CPI(M), NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), among others, are expected to attend.
The DMK and AAP have said they will not attend the meeting. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav will also skip the meeting as he is engaged in managing nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, with the party expected to send representatives instead.
(With inputs from PTI)