New Delhi: Hours after Rahul Gandhi was elected unopposed as the Congress chief, the ruling BJP on Tuesday said the Gandhi scion's elevation to the top party post was just a coronation exercise.


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The saffron party further said that Rahul Gandhi's elevation as Congress chief was also not based on his performance as the party's vice-president.   


"I congratulate Rahul Gandhi on his promotion as the Congress president which happened without taking his performance into consideration," BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was quoted as saying by ANI.


"When the Congress party was in power, he used to frequently get out due to hit-wicket, and in the Opposition, he had been throwing 'no-balls'. It is hoped that since he is a Congress president now, he will watch the pitch carefully and play accordingly," Naqvi added.


Endorsing Naqvi's view, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy also said the Congress could have had the elevation as a consensus decision or the working committee could have unanimously proposed his name as there was no challenger.


"Why so much drama? If they would have wanted to go through a process then they should have gone through a proper system, but they did not do that," Swamy added.


The 47-year-old Gandhi scion was formally declared as the Congress president on Monday night.


Confirming the elevation, Congress' Central Election Authority Chairman Mullapally Ramchandran said the committee had received 89 nomination papers, all proposing the name of Rahul for the coveted post.


Rahul Gandhi had filed his nomination papers for the post of the party chief at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters on December 4.


Rahul has succeeded his mother Sonia Gandhi, who held the post for nearly two decades. 


He will take over the reins of the party on December 16. 


Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated his political bete noire Rahul Gandhi on his election as the new Congress president and wished him a fruitful tenure.


Rahul Gandhi later thanked him.


"I congratulate Rahul Ji on his election as Congress president. My best wishes for a fruitful tenure," Modi had tweeted.


In response, Gandhi tweeted: "Thank you for your good wishes Modi ji".


Modi has been regularly mocking Rahul Gandhi, calling his elevation to head the Congress party as dynastic politics and a redux of "Aurangzeb Raj"


With ANI inputs