The BJP on Monday took aim at Rahul Gandhi over his purported remarks that the letter by over 20 Congress leaders seeking changes in the organisation will help the ruling party, saying he is "obsessed" with the saffron party and that "one's destruction is near when one stops using his own mind".
"So obsessed is Rahul Gandhi with the BJP that he is beginning to see Congress’ veteran leaders as those working in 'collusion' with BJP. Someone rightly said when one's destruction is near, one stops using his own mind," BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav said.
The Congress has denied that Rahul Gandhi, its former president, had accused any party leader of "colluding" with the BJP during the CWC meeting on Monday.
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, not a member of the Congress Working Committee, had referred to the purported remarks in a tweet. The former Union minister, however, withdrew it later saying Gandhi had told him that he had never made such comments.
BJP's Tom Vadakkan, who was in the Congress for decades and was considered close to the Gandhi family before he joined the saffron party last year, said the opposition party's internal politics is being played out as a result of their "misdeeds".
"Mirror has cracked. When a mirror cracks, there is no way to put it together. You have to throw it out," he said in a swipe at the Congress leadership over the letter.
Vadakkan also said the commitment of the leaders, who are signatories to the letter and include veterans like Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Ghulam Nabi Azad, to the Congress is "definitely much more" than Rahul Gandhi.
"They are not born in the party. They have lived in the party. They have only suggested a course correction and free and fair elections and a leader who is available to lead the party round the clock," he said.
Vadakkan claimed that the denial by the Congress that Rahul Gandhi made any statement linking the letter's signatories to the BJP was an "afterthought".
"He (Rahul) believes if you are not with him, then you are with the BJP, not even the Trinamool Congress or any other party," the BJP leader said.