BJP targets Sonia with Bofors,Manmohan with 2G

As curtains drew on the BJP national executive in Guwahati on Sunday,the party brought Congress chief Sonia Gandhi into its line of attack along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,talking about her links with Ottavio Quattrocchi.

As curtains drew on the BJP national executive in Guwahati on Sunday,the party brought Congress chief Sonia Gandhi into its line of attack along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,talking about her links with Ottavio Quattrocchi.

While adding Bofors to its armoury,the party sensed that corruption as an issue could well become the UPAs nemesis.

So much so that L K Advani,while addressing delegates at a closed-door session,said 2010-11 would become a turning point in the countrys polity because of the wave of scandals just like Bofors was in the mid- 1980s.

Advani asked the party to aggressively take the issue to the people and drive home the point that it was time for a change. Accordingly,the party announced more street protests.

The partys political resolution recounted its 1983 resolution where it had then pointed out that Mr Clean Rajiv Gandhi has emerged as Mr Disaster and is giving the country a scandal a day. In todays context,it said todays prime minister gave us a scandal a day.

Although the party attacked Sonia Singh was its prime target till now in the context of 2G spectrum it shied away from mentioning her name in black and white in written speeches and the political resolution.

Instead,it preferred oblique references such as Congress first family while accusing it of shielding Quattrocchi and covering up Bofors for over the last two decades.

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The political resolution which terms 2010 as the year of corruption said: When Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister,Quattrocchi had unrivalled access to the PMs household… The Congress went all out to protect him and subverted every attempt to have a fair investigation.

Referring to the tax tribunals recent order,it said: The Congress,particularly its first family,is faced with the power of truth.

The partys reluctance to mention Sonias name in the political resolution and in BJP chief Nitin Gadkaris speech on Saturday had led to a perception that the party was going soft on the Congress chief.

At a rally later,Advani dispelled this notion.

Referring to the testimony of Quattrocchis former driver before the CBI,Advani said: Soniaji is Congress president. Can she deny what the CBI has said… the driver has said… that Quattrocchi used to frequent her residence.

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Advani said the governments IT Tribunal found out that Quattrocchi took commission for the Bofors deal.

Sources said Gadkari and other top leaders clearly told the national executive members that the focus of the attack should be Sonia as she is the face of the Congress. The attempt,according to the BJP top leaders,was to recreate the Bofors days.

Singh will also be a target in the context of the 2G spectrum. The resolution said: the PM had to keep the UPA II alliance intact and therefore,hell or high water,protection was offered for the spectrum fraudsters.

It is learnt that Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj told the closed-door meeting that if need be,the Budget session of Parliament could also be stalled.

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At the rally,other top BJP leaders were equally scathing. Rajnath Singh pointed out after the tribunals order,the needle of suspicion points at Sonia and she will have to answer.

Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley obliquely targeted the Congress chief,reflecting the dilemma in the party.

While Swaraj said the ghost of Bofors had returned and it went straight to the house of the Congress leadership,Jaitley said the Congress first family had tried to cover up the truth for the last 23 years.