‘Incompetent leader tried to drag President into political street fight’: BJP fumes at Rahul Gandhi

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sambit Patra on Saturday criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his remarks following a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu over the ongoing CEC row, accusing him of trying to drag the President into a “political street fight” amid the Opposition’s allegations of “vote chori”.

Patra questioned why Rahul and the Opposition delegation did not present evidence of alleged electoral irregularities to the President during their meeting on Friday.

He also accused the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha of making misleading statements about the interaction.

“An incompetent leader tried to drag the President into a political street fight. Rahul Gandhi does not even understand basic protocol. It is basic protocol that the President accepts a memorandum, but he turned it into a drama,” Patra said.

Questioning the Opposition's claims, the BJP spokesperson asked why the leaders had not submitted evidence to the President if they had been alleging electoral irregularities for nearly a year.

“If you are going to submit the evidence later, why did you go there in the first place without it?” Patra said.

He further alleged that Gandhi had misrepresented the President's response to the Opposition's claims.

“After coming out, this incompetent leader says that the President agreed with him,” Patra said, adding that Gandhi was not responsible enough to occupy a high position in the country.

The BJP spokesperson's remarks came a day after a 10-member INDIA bloc delegation, led by Congress and Gandhi, met President Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan and submitted a memorandum outlining four demands, including the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

After the meeting, Rahul said he was “shocked” that the President did not deny the Opposition's allegations of “vote chori”. He claimed that the President had sought proof of the alleged electoral irregularities.

“I just sat in quite an unbelievable meeting with the President of India. We presented our memorandum to her outlining PM Modi and HM Amit Shah’s gross subversion of India’s electoral system and seeking CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. I was shocked that the President did not deny Vote Chori,” Rahul wrote on X.

Rahul also said he had told the President that evidence of alleged electoral manipulation was known to the country, claiming that elections had been “stolen” in state after state.