New Delhi: In a veiled attack on Sonia Gandhi,
senior BJP leader L K Advani on Sunday said Congress presidentship
seems to have become a "family monopoly" compared to the times
when even Mahatma Gandhi was party chief only once for a year.
"Those were the days when every year the Congress would
have a new President. How much things have changed since!
Nowadays, Party Presidentship seems to have become a family
monopoly, and that too for life," Advani said in his latest
blog posting.
Advani said that even Mahatma Gandhi, who commanded
extraordinary influence over the Congress all his life, became
President of the Party only once in 1924.
Sonia was elected party president for the fourth time
unopposed last year. The tenure of the presidentship has
also been increased to five years from three years.
Sonia Gandhi was elected party president for the fourth
time unopposed last year. The tenure of the presidentship has
also been increased to five years from three years.
In his blog Advani also sought to draw a parallel between
the fate of the Janata Party after it lost elections "badly"
in 1980 and the position of the UPA Government today facing
series of corruption charges and allegations.
"It was during this agonising phase (in 1980) that I once
remarked: This Janata Party seems to be in a suicidal mood...
It makes one wonder if the UPA Government also can be deemed
to be in a suicidal mood," he said.
He also recalled how the Jan Sangh members, who were
viewed as a liability to the Janata Party leadership, parted
ways and launched BJP, describing that phase as "extremely
agonising" in his long political life.
In his blog Advani also sought to draw a parallel between
the fate of the Janata Party after it lost elections "badly"
in 1980 and the position of the UPA Government today facing
series of corruption charges and allegations.
"It was during this agonising phase (in 1980) that I once
remarked: This Janata Party seems to be in a suicidal mood...
It makes one wonder if the UPA Government also can be deemed
to be in a suicidal mood," he said.
He also recalled how the Jan Sangh members, who were
viewed as a liability to the Janata Party leadership, parted
ways and launched BJP, describing that phase as "extremely
agonising" in his long political life.
He said that in his writings he used to describe Janata
Party as being in the grip of a "lemmings complex", a term
which is also being used by dailies today to comment on the
state of affairs in the present Government.
Lemmings are a rodent in Scandinavian countries, who for
no explicable reason are believed to commit mass suicide. This
is, however, scientifically not proven, he said.
PTI
