HYDERABAD: BJP state president N Ramchander Rao on Saturday hit back at Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s remark that the next political battle in India would be between the “Gandhi parivar” and the “Sangh Parivar”, saying the comparison was “completely baseless and meaningless”.
In a statement issued while he was touring Australia, Ramchander Rao said the Congress was a family-centric party, while the BJP’s politics was centred on national interests. “The Gandhi family is first for the Congress, but the nation is first for the BJP,” he said.
He recalled the Emergency imposed by the Congress government and accused the party of having stifled the voice of the people and undermined democracy. Ramchander Rao said the political contest was between what he described as the Congress’s “family-centric, selfish politics” and the “selfless patriotism” of the Sangh Parivar.
In a separate statement, BJP state chief spokesperson NV Subash questioned the Congress’s claim to the Gandhi legacy. He said projecting the Congress as the sole inheritor of the “Gandhi” legacy was politically misleading and questioned the historical basis for the association of the Gandhi surname with the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Subash said the Congress should not conflate a political family identity with the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi.