BHOPAL: After the war between the ruling BJP and opposition Congress over morphed videos and a parody song, it’s time now for war of words between the two over the age of their leaders in poll bound Madhya Pradesh.
It began with MP Finance minister Jayant Malaiya mocking the Congress for choosing 71-year-old former union minister Kamal Nath as state party president. A miffed Congress responded with a list of BJP leaders who despite being aged are calling the shots in state politics.
On Wednesday, the state’s finance minister, who is himself aged 71, had said, “The newly-appointed state Congress chief, an aged 71-year-old Kamal Nath doesn’t stand any chance against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is aged only 59.”
Minister of state in the BJP government, Vishwas Sarang too had echoed Malaiya’s views.
State Congress media convener Narendra Saluja responded with a list of aged BJP leaders, including present ministers of the state government, among them Malaiya (71), Kusum Mahdale (74), Rustam Singh (73), Paras Jain (87), Gourishankar Bisen (66), Umashankar Gupta (65), Maya Singh (67), Balkrishna Patidar (65).
“What about the national politics, where our leader is 47-year-old Rahul Gandhi and the country’s PM Narendra Modi is aged 67,” Saluja had questioned. “What made BJP take a decision in 2004 to replace its young MP CM Uma Bharti, then aged 45, with 73-year-old Babulal Gaur?”
Kamal Nath responded to the BJP’s age jibe on Thursday, saying he was ready for electoral contest with anyone — the CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is nearly 60 or any other young BJP leader — whom the saffron party might be considering as a replacement to their existing Chief Minister.
Earlier, the two parties were involved in a bitter war of words over a video and parody song mocking the senior Congress leaders and a ‘Nalayak Vs Layak’ jibe by Kamal Nath at a recent Press conference.