Bharatiya Janata Party vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe was at the centre of a controversy on Wednesday after he reportedly said the party has a "smaller talent pool" compared to the Congress.
"Compared to the Congress, we have a smaller talent pool and less exposure, but it's only a matter of time that we expand out base," he was quoted as having said by an international news agency.
The report quoted him as having made these remarks in the context of a speculated overhaul of his cabinet being planned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "weed out under-performers and improve his government's image" but that "he can't find the right replacements".
Sahasrabuddhe, however, later clarified, saying he was "misquoted" as he had spoken about BJP's "limited exposure" and not talent compared to Congress.
"I have been misquoted. It is the Public Policy Research Centre which I have been supervising for years before it came out with some kind of a study about how BJP's performance in government is far better than any other political party's government. So the question of limitation of talent certainly does not arise.
"What I was actually trying to explain to the reporter was that BJP has been in power at the Centre for a limited period of time and there was a shortage of exposure. I was talking about this limited exposure not talent," he said.
Taking a swipe, former Union Minister Manish Tewari of Congress said the BJP leader had only articulated what was truth.
"BJP definitely fails on talent and whatever talent do they have is possibly better utilised for destructive purposes rather than doing anything constructive," he said.
