Congress considers surname as a 'political brand', says Jaitley

November 28, 2018 00:10

Coming down heavily on the Congress for considering "surname as a political brand", Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Tuesday the BJP will "gladly accept" the challenge of 2019 general elections if the Congress wants it to be between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the son of lesser-known parents, and someone who is known for his parentage.

In a Facebook post titled ' What was the name of Sardar Patel's father', Jaitley said that in a dynastic party like the Congress, talent and merit have no space and the crowd around the family is the cadre.

Jaitley's post comes days after some Congress leaders stoked a controversy by naming family members of Modi.

The Congress hit back terming Jaitley as a "blog minister" and said the finance minister wants to talk about everything that does not concern his ministry and asked when he will answer questions relating to his ministry.

"If the Congress party wants the 2019 elections to be between Prime Minister Modi, who is the son of lesser-known parents and someone who is known only for his parentage rather than capacity, merit and competence, the BJP would gladly accept the challenge. Let this be the agenda for 2019," the minister said.

Jaitley said while the age of the prime minister's mother was made a subject matter of the electoral debate, his father's anonymity was commented upon as an inadequate credential of the prime minister.

"The debate whether India should be a dynastic democracy has been ignited by a self-goal of the Congress party...The argument given was that if you represent the legacy of a well-known family, it is a political point in your favour.

"Millions of talented political workers who come from modest family backgrounds would fail by the Congress test of leadership. Merit, talent, ability to inspire and lead would not be a virtue. The Congress considers only a great surname as a political brand," Jaitley added.

Asked about the blog, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said, "The problem is that the finance minister wants to talk about everything that does not concern his ministry. Its reason is very clear that the country's economy has been crumbled under the finance minister's supervision. We want to ask you, when will the finance minister answer these questions."

"Why doesn't the Finance Minister write a blog on why the value of the Rupee is falling. Why does the finance minister not write a blog on why the autonomy of the Reserve Bank of India has been attacked.

"Why doesn't he write a blog on the falling international crude il prices and still the price of petrol and diesel is touching sky high. Why doesn't the finance minister write a blog on why investment has come down in the last 53 months. Why doesn't he write a blog on the rising current account deficit," Tewari asked. -- PTI

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