New Delhi: The Congress on Monday lashed out at the statements of finance minister Arun Jaitley that Congress should select its leaders based on calibre and potential. Mr Jaitley was addressing the Berkeley India Conference via video conference. Interestingly, a month earlier, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had addressed students at Berkeley during his visit to the United States of America. Terming the statements of the finance minister as “unsolicited advice,” Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said, “The finance minister gave unsolicited advice to the Indian National Congress... We have never prescribed to the BJP who they have chosen in the past, and also in the present, as their president.”
Senior leader Kapil Sibal said that the finance minister was disconnected with the people at large and that is the reason of his advising the Congress. Mr Sibal said, “It would have been better if paid more heed to the economic situation prevailing in the country.”
Taking a dig at the BJP, Mr Sharma said, “But my query would be: was Mr Amit Shah chosen by the BJP as party president for his image, intellect, integrity and humane values?” This comes after the story that came out showing a rise in the turnover of the company of the son of BJP president Mr Amit Shah.
After Rahul’s speech at Berkeley, the finance minister had said that he was “ashamed” of the speech given by Mr Gandhi.
