Sonia Gandhi Goes Missing

NEW DELHI: Congress accused BJP of exploiting Sonia Gandhi's illness and absence from the country to drag her into the Commonwealth Games mess, raising the offensive against the rival which this week brought her in the line of its no-holds-barred attack.

AICC spokesman Rashid Alvi said BJP was levelling baseless allegations against Sonia at a time she was abroad undergoing medical treatment. "This is the party which swears by Indian culture and tradition but when Sonia Gandhi is undergoing treatment in the US, it is talking these things," he said.

Alvi questioned why the BJP was making allegations against the Congress chief now when the party had not done it before and linked it to her absence on medical grounds. "Sonia Gandhi and the PM have nothing to do with it (CWG mess). BJP is doing politics on their name. Why was this not said before? Why now when Sonia Gandhi has gone abroad for treatment. BJP thinks this is the opportune time to target her," Alvi said.

The opposition party upped the ante on Monday when leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley spoke of Sonia's role in the appointment of Suresh Kalmadi as the helmsman for CWG while also targetting the prime minister. It was for the first time that the Congress chief was mentioned as responsible for the appointment of Kalmadi, who is in jail for irregularities.

A stung Congress, linking the BJP's accusations against the UPA chairperson with her medical condition, is clearly seeking to soften the rival. With the opposition having refrained from pointing fingers at the Congress chief during the many months of its attack on Games graft, the Congress query on its timing now aims to paint the rival offensive as opportunistic, even insensitive.

It is to be seen if BJP will carry on with its new line of attack which seeks to blame the CWG mess at the Congress leadership by involving the top decision makers. Alvi's invocation of Indian culture to question BJP's "baseless attack" on an ailing Congress chief is seen as much as a reflective of the party's exasperation at the saffron family "overplaying" its hand on corruption issue as a shrewd bid to check its advance.