New Delhi: Former BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla has accused the Congress of encouraging right-wing journalists and social media handles to attack him.
Ruling out all possibilities of joining the Congress, he said that some had expected him to turn against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Poonawalla, in a post on X, claimed that the “Congress ecosystem” had expected him to turn against Prime Minister Modi and the BJP after leaving the saffron party. Instead, he said, he continued to target Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
“Sab ulta ho gaya, Congress thought that after leaving BJP I will attack [Narendra Modi] Instead I called their Supreme Leader a Pappu & Italo-Indian version of Kim Jong Un,” Poonawalla said in his post.
Some right-wing journalists and social media handles were being encouraged to attack him following his resignation, he alleged. He also claimed that the alleged campaign was “backfiring” as some of the same platforms continued to publish multiple stories about him, as reported by News18.
“Now, Congi ecosystem is paying some right wing journalists and handles to attack me thinking it affects me. But those journos channels are posting 5 stories of mine daily on Instagram for traction. Sab ulta ho gaya,” he added.
In a late night video on Instagram, Poonawalla addressed Rahul Gandhi and said he would not support his becoming Prime Minister. “Congress thought that Shehzad had left the BJP. So now this boy will speak strongly against the BJP, and he will also criticise Modi ji.”
People associated with the Congress ecosystem had reached out to him with messages of solidarity after his exit, he claimed.
“People from their ecosystem sent solidarity messages: ‘Brother, this has happened to you, this is very wrong. But the BJP always does this with Muslims.'”
“I said that I will never let Rahul Gandhi become Prime Minister in my lifetime. Because Rahul Gandhi was Pappu, is Pappu and will remain Pappu,” he said in the video.
Poonawalla had earlier taken a swipe at the Congress by saying he was “forever indebted” to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for giving India Rahul Gandhi, whom he credited with helping Narendra Modi win the 2014, 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
After resigning from the BJP earlier this week, h cited pressing financial and personal circumstances for his decision and said he planned to return to the private sector.
This is not the first time that Poonawalla has hit out at Rahul. He joined the Congress in 2008 and became secretary of the Maharashtra Congress unit in 2016. He quit the party in 2017, citing “an unfair process” to choose the Congress president that favoured Rahul Gandhi.