New Delhi, Apr 25 (TOI): On a day when senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid sent his party scrambling to attempt damage control, another party member's attempt at undermining its opponent the BJP came to nought with what some may call a self-goal.

Here's what happened. Congress leader and Rajya Sabha Parliamentarian Ahmed Patel yesterday tweeted to draw attention to "agrarian distress" under the BJP-led NDA centre.

"Alarming fall in wholesale food prices since 2014 underlines the existing agrarian distress. Farmers are being made to bear the cost of low inflation. In last 4 years their prices barely increased by 3.6%," tweeted Patel.

The problem with the tweet was that it can also be seen as a positive outcome of the Centre's policies that wholesale food prices have fallen - positive for the consumer, that is. And that's how Jayant Sinha, minister of state for civil aviation, chose to see it.

"Dear Ahmedbhai, thanks for accepting that there was high food inflation during UPA and that NDA Govt has kept food inflation on a tight leash. All this while ensuring rising farmer incomes!" tweeted the BJP's Sinha.

Th Congress has not had much luck with its tweeted barbs lately. Just last month, the grand old party tweeted a poll asking whether "Do you think the death of 39 Indians in Iraq is Sushma Swaraj's biggest failure as Foreign Minister? Yes or No".

Close to 34,000 people, voted and 76 percent of them voted "No". That is, 76 percent of respondents didn't believe the death of 39 Indians taken hostage in Iraq in 2014 was Swaraj's biggest failure as foreign minister.

While the respondents could have had some other "failure" in mind, or perhaps didn't believe she had failed at all, they certainly showed Swaraj in a positive light.
Of course, Swaraj, cheekily retweeted that Congress tweet.

Yesterday, the Congress has other problems. It went on the back foot because of member and former Union Cabinet minister Khurshid, who at a public function acknowledged that "the Congress does have blood (of Muslims) on its hands". His comment came in answer to a question about Congress rule during the time of the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992.

His comments, which were made day before yesterday, but went public yesterday, gave the BJP ammunition to attack. It duly did.

The BJP said that the Congress is not only guilty of shedding the blood of the Muslims but of the Sikhs as well.

"The hands of Congress are not only stained with the blood of Muslims but also of Sikhs who were killed in 1984," said BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra.