New Delhi, Apr 17 (Agencies) : In what could be an embarrassment for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress on Thursday released a video in which party leader Uma Bharti has said that Narendra Modi was not a 'Vikas Purush' but a 'Vinash Purush'.
The video, which reportedly dates few years back, was released by Congress leader and party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the national capital at a press conference.
Uma is heard saying in the video that Gujarat had become a fear stricken state and that the Hindus were living in fear in the state. She also said that Modi did not bring about development in his state but had infact destroyed the state, adding that the Gujarat CM was dictatorial.
Uma goes on to say that the facts regarding Gujarat's GDP was a lie.
Narendra Modi is BJP's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The statements by Uma was reportedly made when she had walked out of the BJP and had floated her own party, the Bharatiya Janshakti Party.
Talking to a news channel, BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said that the latest move by the Congress only showed its desperation. He also said that BJP also had examples of how many Congress leaders, who had left the party had said things against it and then had later come back to the party.
Uma had a fallout with party patriarch LK Advani in November 2004. She had taken Advani head on and had criticised him. Late she was suspended from the BJP and then finally expelled.
She then formed her own party. However, she patched up after couple of years and was re-inducted in the BJP on June 7, 2011.
The BJP has fielded Uma for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Jhansi seat in Uttar Pradesh.
She had got into a controversy few days back when she had said that Narendra Modi was not as good an orator as former PM and BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Uma had maintained that huge crowds came to Modi's rallies because they supported him and not to particularly hear him.
Modi had been criss-crossing the length and breadth of the country, addressing as many as four to five rallies in a day in an attempt to woo the electorate. The massive crowds that has been seen at his rallies has enthused the rank and file and party leaders. They are hoping that the so-called 'Modi wave' will help the BJP come back to power at the Centre after a decade.
Most of the opinion polls have predicted that the BJP would emerge as the single largest party in the polls. On the other hand, the Congress' image is said to have taken a huge beating with ten years of anti-incumbency, price rise and corruption charges staring it in the face.