'BJP jittery, hold over electorate slipping'

New Delhi: Accusing the BJP of polarisation during assembly polls by raking up issues such as the Hijab row and the Uniform Civil Code, senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Sunday said it showed that the BJP was "jittery" as its hold over the electorate was slipping, and asserted that the people were beginning to see "through their tricks".

He also termed the dubbing of the elections in Uttar Pradesh as a bipolar contest between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party by some quarters as an "exaggeration" and said "this will not be the end of the story of the Congress party's revival, this will be the beginning of that story".

In an interview, Khurshid also stated that not announcing a CM face was not a cause of concern for the Congress in UP as the party has Priyanka Gandhi Vadra leading from the front. Asked about the Hijab row that erupted in Karnataka and has since reared its head in other states as well, he said it may well be a "very devious strategy" deployed by the BJP but it is also a reflection of their "complete and total bankruptcy of ideas". It also shows a complete lack of confidence in their performance of the last seven years, the former Union minister added. "I am getting more and more of the sense that people are beginning to see through their tricks including people who have supported them (BJP) in the past few years and I hope this will have an impact on the actual result " said Khurshid, whose wife Louise Khurshid is contesting from UP's Farrukhabad. Asked if he sees the Hijab issue being raised as a polarisation strategy ahead of polls, he asked why else would it be raised now.

"Hijab is not something that started yesterday, Hijab has been going on for a long time...it is a known fact that Hijab has been there for a long time and girls have been using the Hijab in an appropriate manner in terms of colour and so on. Why should they be raising it today? It is very clear that they are using it for a very devious reason,"

Khurshid said.