After Rahul Gandhi on Friday trained his guns on the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it was the turn of BJP, who in an official statement, accused him of speaking without full knowledge of a subject. As Gandhi hit out at Modi asking the decision to categorise zones should not be made from the PMO, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi mocked him by calling him "evergreen youth leader".
"In spite all the efforts, communal politics is being played and efforts are being made to go against the government in international forums. But there has been no appeals made by the Congress party," said Trivedi.
The BJP claimed that the Centre is more than receptive to suggestions from the Opposition provided they are constructive and are based on facts. But, the ruling BJP accused the grand old part of repeating old accusations which the BJP said were devoid of truth or sense of cooperation.
Earlier in the day, in a press conference, Rahul Gandhi said, "Indian economy has stopped, businesses are collapsing and you need to create demand immediately. You need to get the system started, else there will be a catastrophe." The Congress leader said the need of the hour is to create demand, put money in the system and in poor people's hands.
The BJP hit back, saying, "As far as helping the poor and the needy are concerned, the Centre has given a package worth Rs 1.7 lakh crore, which is far bigger than the one which Rahul Gandhi discussed today."
The economic package, Trivedi claimed, has benefited more than 39 crore people. He said benefits such as ration to even those without holding a ration card has been ensured by the BJP-led Centre. Similar is the benefit of providing free cooking gas cylinders for three months, he added.
The BJP claimed that the direct benefit transfer, which the former Congress President is harping on, has already been done and continues to be done by the Modi government. "Abhijit Banerjee has also welcomed it," he said.
Banerjee is a Nobel laureate with whom Gandhi recently had a much-publicized chat on ways to re-energize the Indian economy.
( With inputs from IANS )