Rahul can't lead alliance: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

New Delhi: Taking a swipe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his efforts to form a front to take on the BJP in 2019 polls, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Sunday that the driver of the Opposition alliance wagon doesn’t even have a learner’s licence and could drive it into a ditch.

Mr Naqvi also said it was out of compulsion that some Opposition leaders, even the experienced ones, are backing Gandhi.

“On one hand there is Narendra Modi and on the other is Rahul Gandhi, who works for four days and then he is on a picnic for four months, while Prime Minister Modi, in the last four years, has not taken leave even for four-and-a-half hours. This is the difference,” he told PTI in an interview.

Talking about the Opposition alliance, the minority affairs Minister said a big coalition was being formed against the BJP and he has been told that National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah is coordinating it.

Mr Naqvi said that the NC chief is an experienced politician and senior people should understand that the “person sitting on the driver’s seat of the alliance’s wagon does not even have a learner’s licence and (therefore) whether this wagon will be driven into a ditch or dumped elsewhere, the experienced people should know”.

“Itne khiladi ek anari ke peeche chal rahe hain toh hum kya kar sakte hain (so many experienced people are walking behind a novice, so what can we do),” the 61-year-old leader said.

Mr Naqvi also exuded confidence that the performance of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls will match the 2014 showing.

“Last time we fought the election on Narendra Modi’s ‘naam’ (name), this time we are fighting the polls on his ‘kaam’ (work),” the Rajya Sabha MP said.