New Delhi: Terming Rahul Gandhi’s announcement of his resignation as Congress president on Twitter as a “brand new drama of the grand old party,” the BJP on Wednesday chose the occasion to highlight the difference between the two parties.
While Minority Affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi called the development in the opposition party as a “brand new drama of the grand old party,” his Cabinet colleague and HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said unlike the Congress, the organisational structure is already in place in the BJP.
“In the Bharatiya Janata Party, the (organisational) election and membership timetable is ready. Work has also started. We also have a working president. If nothing is happening in the other party, what can I do,” said Mr Javadekar said after a briefing of the Cabinet. “What I can do if nothing else is happening in the other party,” he told the media when asked about Mr Gandhi’s resignation.
He was apparently referring to a long spell of continuing uncertainty in the Congress after Mr Gandhi first offered to resign following his party’s drubbing in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Asked for her reaction, Union minister Smriti Irani, who defeated Mr Rahul Gandhi in Amethi in the Lok Sabha polls, merely said, “Jai Shri Ram”.
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nalin Kohli described the Congress as a family-run party unlike the BJP which is, he said, runs democratically. He said in the BJP, any ordinary worker can aspire towards reaching the highest echelons, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s journey from a poor family to occupying the highest elected office of the land is testimony to this fact.
“The Congress on the other hand is run by the Nehru-Gandhi family. Their party president is almost always from this first family or is someone who is their selected nominee and loyalist. It’s up to them to decide who will be president or resign from this post,” he said.
Another Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar when asked to comment on the resignation of Mr Rahul Gandhi, quipped, “We can thank the other party.”
