With eyes on 2024, BJP leaders indicate that Cong attack will only sharpen

The BJP leaders indicated that their political attack against the Congress and its leaders — of which dynasty politics plays a large part — will only get sharper as Kharge's presidency begins.

New Delhi: The election of Mallikarjun Kharge as the Congress president, the first non-Gandhi in the top post after 24 years, is unlikely to stem the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s pet campaign on dynasty politics. The BJP leaders indicated that their political attack against the Congress and its leaders will only get sharper as the 2024 general election draws near.

A second party functionary said Kharge’s credentials as a long-term lawmaker, or his caste will not override the factor that he was “picked” for the job. (ANI)

Shortly after the Congress election result was announced, BJP national general CT Ravi tweeted, “During 2004 to 2014, the Fake Gandhis ruled India through a ‘remote controlled Prime Minister’.”

According to BJP functionaries, it indicated that the party is not going to rest its attacks against the Congress. Senior BJP leaders, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the party will continue to flag the issue of Kharge having been “hand-picked by the Gandhis”.

“Just as the National Advisory Committee (NCA) headed by Sonia Gandhi was known as the super PMO [Prime Minister's Office] during Manmohan Singh’s tenure (as Prime Minister)… Kharge will only be the party president in name. The (Gandhi) family will call the shots and it will reiterate what we have been saying — that only they control the party,” said a senior BJP leader.

Congress senior spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi rejected the charges against his party and said, “To expect the BJP to shed their bad habits is to expect a crow to become swan. They conveniently forget their oldest allies in Punjab and Maharashtra came from established political families.”

He also pointed out that “despite having a clear option, no Gandhi family member assumed any government positions for over 30 years. And we all know that selective amnesia strikes when references to the Nagpur remote control is made,” Singhvi added.

Another Congress leader said that the manner in which Gandhi family members chose not to fight this election for the party president and stayed away from campaigning for any candidate, underlines the democratic nature of the Congress.

The BJP has consistently attacked the Congress for propagating dynastic politics in the country as a key plank. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has on several occasions flagged the issue of dynastic politics and how it has hurt the polity by promoting only a handful of families. At the BJP’s national executive committee meeting in Hyderabad in July, underlining the pitfalls of dynastic politics he said, parties that followed the succession model are now on the verge of perishing.

A second BJP functionary said Kharge’s credentials as a long-term lawmaker, or his caste will not override the factor that he was “picked” for the job. “We saw what happened to those who called for changes and more transparency, they had to leave the party,” said the second functionary, referring to the exit of senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal, who were part of a group that wrote to Gandhi seeking changes in the party’s functioning.

Political commentator Sumanth Raman said the BJP will continue to refer to Kharge as a “proxy” for the Gandhis. “The BJP will highlight that he had no intention of contesting the polls, it was decided at the last minute…He is past 80 and is not likely to be seen to be taking an independent line. So, the BJP will sustain the campaign against the Congress,” he said.