Rahul takes BJP by surprise, praises Atal

Rahul Gandhi disarmed the BJP when he heaped praise on former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee for his vision.

Amid the political acrimony during the trust vote debate, Rahul Gandhi today disarmed the BJP when he heaped praise on former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for working to ease energy shortage.

Flagging the point that energy security was vital to reduce poverty and to maintain growth while batting for the Indo-US nuclear deal, the scion of the Gandhi family made a mention of Vajpayee’s role.

Participating in the trust vote debate, Gandhi first praised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for showing “tremendous courage and confidence” by realising the problem of energy deficiency in the country and working for its solution.

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In the same breath, Gandhi praised Vajpayee saying he “also saw the problem (of energy deficiency) and worked for its solution” in remarks that took the saffron party members by surprise.

Apparently finding no response to his charitable remark about the leader of a rival party, Gandhi pointedly looked towards the BJP benches and quipped : “ispe taali mariye, ispe to taali mariye (at least, clap for this).”

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