BJP hits back at Rahul on personality-oriented politics

Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi for deriding "personality-oriented" politics of Narendra Modi, BJP today said though he got the principle against such politics right, he got his facts wrong as Congress has been run like this in the past.

Criticising the personality-oriented politics of the Congress, leader of Oppositon in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley cited examples of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and now Rahul Gandhi for running the party at the "whims of an individual".

"Rahul Gandhi has got it right. Political parties cannot be personality centric. Political parties must have a structure, an ideology and inner party democracy. They cannot be run on the whims of an individual...Rahul Gandhi has got the principle against personality centered party right, he has got his facts all wrong," he said.

Jaitley attacked Gandhi for making it to the top of the Congress party due to the dynastic politics it promoted and said.

"In a structured party like the BJP or the left, Rahul Gandhi would still have been struggling to get his first assignment as an office bearer in the Party structure or in a legislative body. It is only in a personality and family dominated set-up like the Congress that he can be nominated as the unquestioned supremo."

Defending BJP leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra modi, he said, "Having popular leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi is very different from the BJP becoming personality centric. These leaders were and will always remain subject to the Party structure."

Deriding the BJP campaign to make the Gujarat Chief Minister as the next Prime Minister, Rahul Gandhi had yesterday said that personality-oriented rule is "not in the national interest".

The "government should not be run on the whims and fancies of a particular person. The future of 120 crore people can be shaped up and improved only by taking everybody along", the Congress Vice President had said.