New Delhi, Oct. 12 -- The BJP on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Congress and INDIA Bloc, dismissing their anti-CEC and SIR protests as a "manifestation of frustration over successive electoral defeats," while describing them as "puppets in the hands of foreign powers".

Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the Congress' "inability to accept defeat is driving them to target constitutional institutions". Party colleague Anurag Thakur called Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi a "hawa-hawai" leader who makes "empty statements and baseless allegations" and creates "unnecessary ruckus" across the country.

Responding to the opposition's march to the Supreme Court to seek judicial intervention over alleged irre...