Former Union Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi launched a scathing attack on the Congress on Saturday (May 23, 2026), saying "sky-high arrogance" and "gutter-level politics" have converted the grand old party into a "lobby of defeated politicians". He also claimed that the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) are set to face another rude shock in the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

Addressing the inaugural session of a BJP training programme in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, Mr. Naqvi targeted the Congress and the SP, saying "Rahul (Gandhi) and Company" has become a "playschool of professional political bashers". In a statement released by his office, Mr. Naqvi said after suffering poll defeats in West Bengal and Assam, opposition parties have restarted their "political manoeuvring" ahead of next year's Uttar Pradesh Assembly election.

However, the "altercation of ambitions" within the opposition alliance is clearly visible, he claimed. Mr. Naqvi said the opposition's "flop script of vote theft" will prove incapable of saving it from its "inevitable fate of political oblivion". He said the opposition leaders, who believe in "hit-and-run" politics and are engaged in the "lynching of constitutional institutions", must abandon their deliberate attempts to denigrate democracy. "They must introspect to understand why the public is repeatedly shattering their arrogance," he added.

The BJP leader said the Congress's "obsession of holding democracy hostage to dynasty politics" has already been demolished in the West Bengal and Assam Assembly polls, and is destined to meet a similar fate in the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh and other States.

Continuing his attack on the Congress and the SP, Naqvi said the parties, driven by dynastic politics, are set to face another rude shock in next year's Uttar Pradesh polls, and will fail to secure the people's mandate.

He also said during the ongoing global crisis, the country has been blessed with a stable government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has emerged as a "troubleshooter".