Rahul Gandhi is 'confused', Congress under his leadership is 'defused': BJP

Rahul Gandhi is "confused", and the Congress under him is "defused", the BJP said on Thursday amid reports that the party was witnessing intense infighting over ticket distribution for the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.

"Rahul is a confused President and under a confused President, the Congress is defused. The kind of infighting within the Congress...Digvijaya Singh (former Chief Minister) takes on Jyotiraditya Scindia (Congress MP) openly and that too in front of Rahul Gandhi," BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra said at a press conference here.

He said that Digvijaya Singh writing a letter to Sonia Gandhi saying he was not being heard in the party shows that the Congress has lost the battle in five states and it also shows that in 2019 the Congress and Rahul Gandhi are facing a debacle.

"The people of this country are not confused. They want strong government and not a weak government," he said.

Patra's attack on the Congress comes amid reports that Singh and Scindia got into a spat during the party's Central Election Committee meeting that took place on Wednesday evening for the selection of candidates for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.

According to sources, a heated argument took place between Singh and Scindia in front of Rahul Gandhi. Sensing no signs of a truce between the two leaders, Gandhi set up a three-member committee of General Secretaries Ashok Gehlot, Veerappa Moily and senior leader Ahmed Patel.

"There is unease of administration in Congress. Rahul Gandhi, you are a confused leader and India needs clarity and the clarion call of the Prime Minister in making policies for this great country," Patra said.

Rahul Gandhi had recently said during a campaign in Madhya Pradesh that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's son's name was found in the Panama papers, a remark that he later attributed to his getting "confused" with Chhattisgarh CM's son.

Patra said that there was confusion in Gandhi while the Prime Minister had a clarity in his policies and leadership.

"This is clarity versus confusion. There is clarity in policies and leadership of Modi. Rahul Gandhi is a self-declared confused person. The country always needs clarity and not the confused leadership," he said.

On reports that the Centre had decided to take over the National Herald building, whose possession was taken by the Congress by allegedly violating the conditions on which the land was allotted, Patra said: "Whenever we see buildings of National Herald, be it in Delhi or state capitals, it seems that the Gandhi family has looted the nation. It is corruption of Rs 5,000 crore. Due to this scam, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are on bail. The ease of loot of the Gandhi family is quite evident in the National Herald case," he said.

Patra hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as India climbed 23 places to 77 in the World Bank's latest Ease of Doing Business rankings in the report for 2019.