New Delhi : BJP leader Arun Jaitley Sunday attacked the Congress, saying it will not have any role in government formation, and that the principal causes of its defeat would be its “mismanagement of the economy”, “image of encouraging corruption” and “failure of its leadership”.
“The tragedy of the Congress party is that it has converted itself into a non-ideological crowd around a family. Its reaction to a double-digit figure can only be expected. I do not believe that it will have any role in government formation. It has mandate to sit only in the opposition and should gracefully accept that position,” Jaitley wrote in his blog.
“The three principal causes of the Congress party’s defeat would be its mismanagement of the economy, its image of encouraging corruption and failure of its leadership,” he added.
Jaitley stated that electoral defeats are a part of the natural process and a party must show “graciousness in defeat” and be ready to learn from its causes.
“Its traditional managers of the economy comprised of those with liberal attitudes. Mrs.Sonia Gandhi’s preference for a European socialism coupled with the domination of the NAC agenda took the party on a path of confusion,” he said, adding that its inability to prevent scams gave to it an image that it had completely compromised on probity.
Jaitley stated that the weakening of the institution of prime minister only contributed to disillusionment with the leadership.
“No country can govern itself if the office of the prime minister has diminished and its authority diluted. The consequences of a parallel extra constitutional structure in our system were obviously felt,” he asserted.
Targeting Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Jaitley said that “indefinite continuation of a dynasty” as a mode of leadership selection can be counter-productive for a party.
“The strength of a party is only as much as the acceptability of that generation of the dynasty. Rahul Gandhi’s leadership failed to inspire both the nation and the Congressmen. A dynastic party will never accept that. It will at best consider that if one member of the dynasty has failed to deliver, dependence should be made on another member of the dynasty. We did see this happening during the Lok Sabha polls,” he said in a reference to Gandhi’s sister Priyanka, who campaigned forcefully for her brother and mother in their constituencies.