'Divide and rule politics won't work': Nadda uses Gujarat civic poll results to take a jibe at Rahul Gandhi

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Jagat Prakash Nadda on Tuesday lashed out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of dividing the country. Nadda was reacting to Gandhi's speech in Thirvananthapuram where he was talking about the "type of politics".

"A few days back he was in the Northeast, spewing venom against the western part of India. Today in the South he is spewing venom against the North. Divide and rule politics won’t work, @RahulGandhi Ji! People have rejected this politics. See what happened in Gujarat today!" Nadda said in his tweet, taking a jibe at the Congress party over the results in Gujarat civic polls.

The BJP is set to retain power in six Gujarat municipal corporations where elections were held on February 21. The party has won 334 of the 576 seats where results were declared till 5 pm.

While Congress has won 36 of the declared seats so far, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a new entrant in these elections, could win 12 seats. The AAP had fielded 470 candidates across the six corporations.

Gandhi, meanwhile, is in Kerala on a two-day visit and took part in a host of events. Nadda reacted to one of his statements made in Thiruvananthapuram today.

"For the first 15 years, I was an MP in north. I had got used to a different type of politics. For me, coming to Kerala was very refreshing as suddenly I found that people are interested in issues & not just superficially but going into detail in issues," Gandhi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Gandhi's visit comes ahead of the assembly elections in Kerala, set to take place in April-May.

For Congress, Kerala is a crucial state. In the last Lok Sabha election, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) had won 19 out of 20 seats and going by the poll history of the state, where incumbents never get a chance to continue in power, it may be the turn of the UDF but local body results really worry the party.

Gandhi also took part in a programme to mark the culmination of padayatra being undertaken by state leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala.

A host of BJP national leaders will also visit Kerala to partake in the 'Vijaya Yatra' rally, which was flagged off by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath earlier this week.

Union home minister Amit Shah will be present at the concluding session of the rally on March 7 in Thiruvananthapuram.