Sonia as PM hurts my pride: Mahajan

It did not take long for a BJP media meet — called to announce plans to press for early elections — to be dominated by a lengthy l...

It did not take long for a BJP media meet — called to announce plans to press for early elections — to be dominated by a lengthy list of reasons why Sonia Gandhi cannot be Prime Minister.

‘‘The idea of Sonia as PM hurts my national pride,’’ BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan told reporters at the party office on Monday, hours before going into a late night huddle with Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray for poll planning. Careful to repeat he had nothing ‘‘personal’’ against the Congress president, Mahajan said: ‘‘I pity those who’s pride is not hurt by the idea.’’

How can Sonia claim she is the desh ki bahu (daughter-in-law of the nation), asked Mahajan, and quipped that the Gandhi surname hardly made one eligible for the PM’s post. ‘‘Believe me, even half the Congress doesn’t accept the idea. Do you remember the last Gandhi who won an election?’’

If Sonia claims the party’s reduced to fighting ‘‘one woman,’’ Mahajan said her foreign origin was never a gender issue. No country on this planet has ever accepted a foreign ruler by vote, he added. He went on to taunt his rivals: ‘‘With Sonia as a leader, the Congress cannot win. Without her, they cannot even organise a public meeting.’’ In contrast, even people in Pakistan want Atal Behari Vajpayee to be voted in as PM, he said.

Mahajan estimated the Lok Sabha would be dissolved mid-February, and a BJP delegation will soon meet the Election Commission to request early polls. On January 21, seven BJP CMs will meet Vajpayee in Delhi to plan to regain 109 seats across their states.