New Delhi, Oct 24 : The BJP flayed the Congress on Friday over its leaders paying tributes to Sitaram Kesri on his death anniversary, alleging that they are “pretending” to show respect for the former party president just to “fool” people, with an eye on the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls.
Congress leaders, including Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, paid tributes to Kesri on his 25th death anniversary on Friday at the party’s 24, Akbar Road headquarters here. It was the same place from where Kesri was removed as the party president by the Congress Working Committee to pave the way for Sonia Gandhi to take over the reins of the organisation in 1998.
Reacting sharply, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, “Time is a true leveller.”
“Once upon a time, at instructions of first family of Congress, Sitaram Kesri was humiliated — his dhoti torn, locked up and heckled to clear the throne of Congress for Sonia Gandhi,” he alleged in a post on X.
Poonawalla accused Rahul Gandhi of pretending to pay respect to the former party president just because the “Bihar elections are close”.
“Who are they fooling? What did they do to Dashrath Manjhi’s son? What did they say about Bhagat Singh ji — equated him to Hamas! What did they do about Birsa Mundaji,” he said.
Poonawalla alleged that Rahul Gandhi has “deep hatred for Biharis and the OBCs”.
“Has he condemned comments of the DMK or Revanth Reddy on Biharis? Has he said a word over Congress calling Bihar as Beedi? Did he condemn PM Modi’s mother being abused by Congress-RJD?” he asked.
Kesri, who hailed from Bihar, served as the Congress president from 1996 to 1998. He died in 2000.
Kesri had worked with stalwart leaders who went on to become state chief ministers, including Bhagwat Jha Azad.
Kesri was elected as the president of the Bihar Congress in 1973 and the treasurer of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in 1980. He served as the AICC treasurer for a decade.
The elections for the 243-member Bihar Assembly are scheduled to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. The counting of votes will be taken up on November 14. (PTI)
