Congress calls Advani a mask for Modi

New Delhi: The Congress party on Monday described Bhratiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani as a "scared leader".

A party spokesperson wondered if Advani was a "mask" or a "convenient front" to promote Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the party's future prime ministerial candidate.

"The question arises - has Advani been indirectly shown the door? Is Advani no more or less than a mukhota [mask], a convenient front, a face and a mask for Modi?" Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters here. "The mask is obviously needed because within NDA [National Democratic Alliance] itself Modi will not have immediate acceptability, and within the country Advani may not have acceptability, but at least within NDA, Advani is perceived to have more acceptability than Modi."

Referring to Modi being promoted as a candidate for future prime minister by some BJP leaders, Singhvi said: "This helpless leader is a scared leader because he has to rely on a supporting stick or crutch of Modi."