BJP original Hindutva party, Congress a poor clone: Jaitley

New Delhi: Union minister and senior leader Arun Jailtey on Saturday asserted his party’s Hindutva roots while taking a jibe at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and his party leaders’ conscious effort to visit temples and showcase their soft-Hindutva face in the Gujarat Assembly poll campaign. Mr Gandhi countered by questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi over low government spending on education in the election-bound state.

Talking to reporters during campaigning in Gujarat, Mr Jaitley said, “The BJP has always been seen as a pro-Hindutva party. So if an original is available, why one would prefer a clone?” He was responding to a question on Mr Gandhi’s recent temple run in the state.

During campaigning, Mr Gandhi had announced that he is a Shiv bhakt and a Hindu. The Congress had also claimed that Mr Gandhi is a Janeu Dhari Brahmin.

Mr Jaitley also accused the Congress of social polarisation.“ Before the BJP came to power in Gujarat social polarisation was rampant in the state. It is the BJP that has taken the state on the path of development,” he said, adding that the Congress is slowly becoming extinct.

Mr Gandhi took to Twitter to question Mr Modi over low government spending on education in the BJP-ruled Gujarat.

Posing the fourth question in his “a question a day” series, Mr Gandhi asked, “Why is Gujarat on the 26th position with regard to spending on government education?”

Mr Gandhi also alleged that the Gujarat government under the BJP had preferred “business of education” at the cost of government schools and colleges. “How will the dream of new India be realised?” asked Mr Gandhi. For campaigning, the Congress also roped in former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit who questioned the Gujarat development model.

“If the claim of the ruling BJP in Gujarat of having undertaken a lot of development is correct then why is the Prime Minister rushing to the state practically every other day to campaign?” asked Ms Dikshit.

Hitting out at the BJP, she slammed the delay in metro project in Gujarat. “When I visited Gujarat 12 years ago, I had heard about the metro project which was announced some years ago with much fanfare. What has happened to that? Is it running now? It is still more on paper than reality?” she asked.

In the coming days campaigning in the state is going to intensify further. Mr Modi is expected to be in the state on December 3 and 4.

The Congress vice-president is also expected to make another dash to the state before the first phase of elections on December 9. The second phase of polling will take place on December 14 and results will be announced on December 18.