Rahul Gandhi’s remark dubbing ordinance as ‘nonsense’ and that it should be torn up and thrown away exposes internal differences in the Congress

Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh said on Friday that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s remarks that the ordinance on saving convicted lawmakers from immediate disqualification was “nonsense” reflected the differences within the Congress.

“It only reflects the differences in that party. Mr. Gandhi should also comment on the actions of the UPA,” Mr. Singh told reporters here.

He said the party would contest 450 seats in the Parliamentary election and aim at winning adequate numbers to form the Government.

The BJP president also said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should not meet his Pakistani counterpart till that country took effective action against terrorist activities. The UPA had repeatedly failed on the diplomatic front, particularly in the Sri Lankan issue. The BJP would take steps to protect the interests of Tamil Nadu fishermen, Mr. Singh added.

On the Supreme Court directive to incorporate the ‘none of the above’ option in the Electronic Voting Machines, he said the Election Commission should convene an all-party meeting to discuss the issue.

Mr. Singh said the huge turnout of people at the BJP youth conference in Tiruchi on Thursday only confirmed the party’s growth in the State and hoped that a good contribution would come from the south to throw the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) out of power.

Mr. Singh said the Tamil Nadu police had made no progress in the murder of BJP state secretary ‘Auditor’ Ramesh in Vellore and urged Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to intervene.