Sitaram Kesri, a Dalit, wasn’t allowed to complete term as Congress president: PM Modi in Chhattisgarh

PM Narendra Modi on Sunday alleged that Dalit leader Sitaram Kesri was not allowed to complete his term as Congress president to make way for Sonia Gandhi as the new party chief.

Hitting out at the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday alleged that Dalit leader Sitaram Kesri was not allowed to complete his term as Congress president, and was “thrown out of office” to make way for Sonia Gandhi as the new party chief.

PM Narendra Modi said four generations of a family ruled the country and “benefited from being in power”, but the country did not benefit from their rule. (HT File Photo)

Addressing a rally on the last day of campaign for the second and final phase of polling for Chhattisgarh assembly election, Modi said four generations of a family ruled the country and “benefited from being in power”, but the country did not benefit from their rule.

“The country knows that Sitaram Kesri, a Dalit, was not allowed to complete his five-year-term as Congress president; he was thrown out of office and into the footpath to make way for Sonia Gandhi as the new party chief,” Modi said. “Earlier Delhi had a remote-controlled government. The remote was in hands of a family which was afraid of the BJP,” he said, targeting the Congress and the Gandhis.

The prime minister claimed that Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh also faced a lot of challenges from the then Congress government at the Centre. “For 10 years, the Centre was ruled by a remote control government which never paid attention towards Chhattisgarh,” Modi alleged.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)