New Delhi: The BJP on Friday approached the Election Commission (EC) and demanded action against the AAP for posting "very unacceptable" and "unethical" video clip and remarks on a social media platform targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A BJP delegation, comprising Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, party national media in-charge and Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni and party leader Om Pathak, approached the poll panel on the issue. On a separate matter related to the Congress, members of the delegation accused Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of making a "baseless and false" claim that the Modi government had privatised job giving public sector units (PSUs).
The AAP on Wednesday had posted a video story on 'X' featuring industrialist Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Modi. The next day, the party posted a picture of Adani and Modi, and alleged that the prime minister works for the industrialist and not the people. "From its official handle, the AAP has posted a video and two tweets (posts on X) in which it has said very unacceptable, reprehensible, mischievous and unethical things about the democratically elected head of the government," Puri told reporters after raising the issue with the EC.
"It is saying in it (these posts) that a democratically elected leader, who happens to be the prime minister, is a paid employee of some individual," the Union minister said and added this act of the AAP was a new low in politics. Puri said the delegation approached the EC and he was confident that the poll panel will take cognisance of the matter and take action. "If the Election Commission doesn't take strong action on this, then someone can say anything about anyone tomorrow," he said.
On Priyanka Gandhi's claim that the Modi government is privatising PSUs, Puri said, "Priyanka Vadra ji has again given one more statement that we have perhaps privatised public sector undertakings which were giving a lot of employment." "This (Priyanka Gandhi's claim and statement) is completely baseless and false. We pointed this out to the EC," he said.
The Congress leader on Wednesday had said that in the past, the government led by her party at the Centre had set up PSUs that provided jobs to the youth, but the BJP's policy is to handover these companies to industrialists. She had also said that first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's idea behind setting up institutions like the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was to take the country forward. Priyanka Gandhi was addressing an election rally at Sanwer, ahead of the November 17 Madhya Pradesh assembly elections.
