LoP Rahul Gandhi a 'leader of palayan' as he 'fled' from Lok Sabha during Shah's speech: BJP

New Delhi, Dec 11 (PTI) The BJP on Thursday took a swipe at Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, calling him "leader of palayan" (desertion) a day after he walked out of the Lower House as a protest when Home Minister Amit Shah was giving a point-by-point rebuttal to the opposition's charges on the SIR.

Shah on Wednesday hit out at the opposition parties in the Lok Sabha for its campaign against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, saying the issue has been raked up as they can no longer win elections by "corrupt practices", and asserted that the reason for the Congress' defeat in polls was its leadership, not EVMs or "vote chori".

In his intervention during the debate on election reforms, the home minister alleged that the opposition wanted to keep the "avaidh ghuspathiye' (illegal immigrants) in the voter list and hence, the SIR issue was raised, but the Narendra Modi government's policy is clear -- detect all aliens, delete their names from the voters' list and deport them.

Shah gave a point-by-point rebuttal to the opposition's charges on the SIR during his 90-minute speech, which also saw Gandhi interrupting him to challenge him to debate with him on his three press conferences on "vote chori", leading to heated exchanges between the two leaders, and a walkout by the opposition some time later.

Flying Gandhi, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged that it became clear that the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha was playing the role of the "leader of propaganda" in the House with the way he was trying to "spread confusion".

Gandhi became the "leader of palayan" as he "fled from the House" in the middle of the home minister's speech during which he was giving a point-by-point rebuttal to the charges that he and other opposition members levelled against the government, Poonawalla added.

"He himself demands a discussion and even challenges others to a debate in Parliament. But when factual answers are given during the discussion and his lies are systematically exposed, he runs away from the House," the BJP spokesperson charged.

"Rahul Gandhi had said, 'Don't be afraid'. But the reality is that we have to now say, 'Don't run away' because the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha ran away from the House, repeating his tendency of not seeing the truth, not speaking the truth and not listening to the truth," he added.

Poonawalla further alleged that Gandhi was teetering on the fine line between self-absorption and overconfidence and has now reached the "point of delusion".

"Rahul Gandhi remains in Delulu. It's a popular word used by Gen Z these days. Delulu means the one who is in delusion," he told a press conference at the BJP headquarters here.

"There's no solution for him. During elections, he will travel from Colombia to Honolulu. And after losing the election, he will say, 'Election Commission, what did you do?'" Poonawalla added. PTI PK PK KSS KSS