Advani like old gramaphone record, says Congress

NEW DELHI - Hitting out at senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, the Congress Tuesday likened him to an “old gramophone record” for repeating “baseless charges” against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“Advani is like an old gramaphone record. He is stuck on the same old personal charges against Manmohan Singh. All those allegations were rejected by the people of India in the last Lok Sabha polls and later,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters here.

Tewari was reacting to Advani’s speech in Kolkata at a BJP rally Tuesday, in which he said that “Manmohan Singh has been the weakest ever prime minister of India”.

“The prime minister cannot control corruption as he is weak,” Advani added.

Tewari said there were contradictions in Advani’s arguments.

While he is trying to rake up allegations against the prime minister, he is closing his eyes to the corruption scandals against Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and other BJP leaders, Tewari pointed out.

The Congress spokesman said Advani’s strategy has been “to shoot and shoot at the Congress and the prime minister and to evade the charges against his own party”.

“Advani is a senior political leader. But I am sorry to say that he is stuck on the old charges which have been outrightly rejected by the public,” Tewari said.

Addressing a huge pre-poll rally attended by top leaders of the BJP in Kolkata, Advani said: “I pity the prime minister. I have seen prime ministers since Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. But he (Manmohan Singh) is the weakest.”

Upping the BJP ante, Advani said the party wanted a joint parliamentary committee probe into not only the 2G spectrum but also other scams like the Commonwealth Games scam and he Adarsh housing society scandal.