‘Dynasty culture’ in BJP too, Cong reminds Shah

The Congress on Monday countered BJP President Amit Shah’s Friday charge of “dynasty culture” in the party, asking him to better look into the BJP with a long list of second generation leaders promoted over the years.

It pointed out that Himachal MP Anurag Thakur (42), who was sacked as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) by the Supreme Court in January, is son of former Himachal Pradesh CM Prem Kumar Dhumal.

Is Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde not daughter of late BJP leader Gopinath Munde or Mumbai MP Poonam Mahajan not daughter of late party stalwart Pramod Mahajan, the Congress leaders asked, wondering if the BJP president will deny these as promotion of the dynasty.

The Congress leaders said Amit Shah should better sit with names of his party leaders from each state to see how the dynasty in in work within his own party for the past many, many years, maybe not his contribution to the phenomenon since he became the party president in 2014.

They cited how sons of three former BJP chief ministers in Madhya Pradesh – Virendra Kumar Saklecha, Sunderlal Patwa and Kailash Joshi – were inducted in party. They said even present Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has brought into politics his son Kartikey (23).

The Congress leaders also pointed out how sons of the senior BJP leaders in Madhya Pradesh hold position in the state BJP Yuva Morcha, the party’s youth wing. They include Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s son Devendra Pratap Singh, BJP national vice-president Prabhat Jha’s son Tushmul, national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya’s son Akash, state BJP chief Nand Kumar Chouhan’s son Harshvardhan Singh, Sukaran, son of disqualified minister Narottam Mishra and Abhishek of state minister Gopal Bhargava.