BJP slams Congress on Sonia’s nomination
We can elect her 40 times, replies irked Cong leader
With Sonia Gandhi all set to be re-elected as Congress president for the fourth time, the Congress and the BJP were caught up in a fresh war of words on a day the process of filing nominations for the election to the party’s president came to an end.
Irked by BJP’s “interference”, the Congress on Thursday said that she could hold the top office of the grand old party for 40 terms.
“Why only four times… She could be elected as Congress president 40 times,” said All India Congress Committee General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi.
What evoked the rhetorical reaction from the ruling party was a statement from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that Gandhi should offer the top office of the Congress to any other leader outside the party’s first family.
BJP national spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad also referred to the Congress’ constitution that prevents party leaders from becoming the presidents of its block, district or state units for more than two terms.
Oscar Fernandez, who heads the Congress’ Central Election Authority, admitted that the party constitution allowed a leader to be chief of a block, district or state unit only for two consecutive terms, but the rule did not apply for the party president’s post.
“If the Congress is a democratic party, as they claim, then it is high time in accordance with the spirit of their own constitution that the same prohibition ought to be applicable in case of their national president as well,” said Prasad.
Fernandez said that if Congress workers wanted to see Gandhi at the helm of the party, the BJP had no business making remarks about it.
“Congress leaders always claim that she (Sonia) sacrificed the office of the Prime Minister. In that event, it is all the more obligatory for her that in accordance with the self-proclaimed democratic tradition and spirit of her party constitution, she should offer the post of its all-India President to anyone outside the Gandhi family,” said Prasad.
As the party has none else to challenge her leadership, Sonia is all set to be re-elected unopposed and, according to Fernandez, a formal announcement would be made on Friday, after completing the formalities of scrutinising the nominations.
Supporters
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Congress’ youth icon Rahul Gandhi, chief ministers of the party-ruled states and other top leaders were among those who proposed and seconded her nomination for the top office.
Singh, Rahul and Mukherjee met the Congress president at her 10, Janpath residence here in the morning and took her consent before nominating her for the party president’s post.
Sonia, 63, has already made a record as she held the Congress president’s post for the longest tenure in the history of the 125-year-old party. She has so far been unanimously elected for the post barring only once in 2000, when party veteran Jitendra Prasada had posed a challenge to her, but lost miserably.
Sonia, who now heads the Congress-led ruling United Progressive Alliance, already completed over a decade since she took over the top post in the wake of the party’s dismal showing in 1998 Lok Sabha polls that saw the exit of her predecessor Sitaram Kesri.
Altogether 55 sets of nominations were filed on behalf of Sonia. “The declaration could be made tomorrow (Friday) and a certificate would be handed over to the Congress president at the AICC headquarters,” said Fernandes.
