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Amid the buzz over the next Congress president, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday took potshots at the Congress and said the presidential poll is nothing but an eyewash as the next party chief would be remotely controlled by the Gandhis.
BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Friday slammed Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the Congress party saying that Gehlot's statement had let the cat out of the bag about Congress' so-called elections which were nothing but an eyewash. Gehlot when asked about Rajasthan's future CM, told mediapersons, "Party president Sonia Gandhi will decide further proceedings (for Rajasthan) along with general secretary incharge Ajay Maken when I become the party president." Responding to Gehlot's statement Poonawalla said, "What capacity will she have? She will be the ex-president! Should not the Congress MLAs decide their CM? If Gandhis will have the remote control then why is this 'Farzi chunav?" Poonawalla further said that senior Congres leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram too had said that whoever be the next president, Rahul Gandhi will have the pre-eminent position in the party. "This is the proof that the next president of Congress will be a proxy of the Gandhis and will be remotely controlled by Gandhis like Manmohan Singh was remotely controlled by Sonia Gandhi," said the BJP spokesperson. Poonawalla said that this was a coronation not an election and many Congress leaders who demanded electoral rolls to be made public had exposed this farce of an exercise. Congress' presidential election will be held on October 17 and the election results would be declared on October 19. Earlier today, Rajasthan CM Gehlot confirmed his candidature for the upcoming Congress president election and said that Rahul Gandhi has made it clear that "no member of the Gandhi family" would become the next party chief. Speaking to the media, Gehlot, who is in Kerala to take part in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, said, "I said earlier that I will request him (Rahul Gandhi) to accept this post when all the Congress Committees are passing resolutions in this regard. He made it clear that no one from the Gandhi family will become the next chief. He said he has decided this due to some reasons, a non-Gandhi family member will become the party chief". Earlier on Thursday, Rahul Gandhi emphasised the "one person, one post" norm and said he believes the commitment to the party's Udaipur declaration would be maintained in the election for the party's top post. Describing the post of Congress president as an "ideological post", Rahul Gandhi said the position "represents a set of ideas and belief system and vision of India". Further, party MP Shashi Tharoor has also given an indication of contesting polls and had met Sonia Gandhi on Monday. He met Congress Central Election Authority chief Madhusudan Mistry on Wednesday. Clearing the air of speculation over his nomination for the All India Congress Committee (AICC) presidential election, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Friday said that he was not in the race for the party chief. The nomination process for the post of Congress president will begin on September 24 and conclude on September 30. (ANI)
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