Congress party a 'family enterprise', says Amit Shah

NEW DELHI: Launching a scathing attack on the Congress, BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday called the party a "family enterprise" aimed at dynastic service, rather than a political party aimed at public service.

In a series of tweets, the BJP president said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is right in challenging the Congress to appoint a non Nehru-Gandhi family member as their party president as the Congress (Indira) since its inception in 1978 has been led by four members of one family for most of the years.


"One remark by PM @narendramodi challenging the Congress Party to appoint a non Nehru-Gandhi family member as their Party President has ruffled several feathers, with many courtiers going out of the way to prove their 'loyalty.' Evidently, the PM's point has struck a raw nerve!," Shah said.


He then added that the two recent non-family members who served as Congress presidents were treated in the "most shabby manner" possible.


He wrote, "Going further back in time, the likes of Babu Jagjivan Ram, S. Nijalingappa, K. Kamaraj were humiliated by one family. Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, though senior was not allowed to be President by one family. Mr UN Dhebar was asked to step aside as CP for Mrs Indira Gandhi."


"Acharya Kripalani, a stalwart who worked closely with Gandhi ji and Sardar Patel was humiliated through the 1950s and 1960s. His crime- he moved the first motion of no-confidence against the Nehru Government," Shah tweeted.


Earlier on Sunday, PM Modi, who was addressing an election rally in Chhattisgarh's Mahasamund, challenged the Congress to appoint a party president who is not from the "family".

"I challenge the Congress to appoint some able leader as their party president, who doesn't belong to the family," he said.

Earlier this week, the PM had dared the Congress to make a non-Gandhi party president for at least five years, if it respects democracy.

Responding to PM Modi's comments, former finance minister P Chidambaram had on Saturday listed out the names of Congress presidents from outside the Gandhi family.

Chidambaram, in a series of tweets, also said that he was "grateful" that the Prime Minister is concerned about who is elected as Congress president, questioning if Modi will spend half the time and speak about demonetisation, Goods and Services Tax (GST), Rafale, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

"To jog PM Modi's memory: among the Congress Presidents since 1947 were Acharya Kripalani, Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Purushottamdas Tandon, UN Dhebar, Sanjiva Reddy, Sanjivaiah ... Kamaraj, Nijalingappa, C Subramanian, Jagjivan Ram, Shankar Dayal Sharma, DK Barooah, Brahmananda Reddy, PV Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri," he said.