Senior leaders leaving Congress as it has become 'family party': Nadda

BJP national president J P Nadda on Monday said that senior leaders with 40-50 years of association with the Congress are leaving the outfit as it has become a family party.He claimed that the grand old party is getting weakened as it did not amalgamate regional aspirations with national aspirations and commitments.Without naming Ghulam Nabi Azad, who quit the Congress days ago, Nadda said, Senior leaders with 40-50 years of association are leaving the party.

BJP national president J P Nadda on Monday said that senior leaders with 40-50 years of association with the Congress are leaving the outfit as it has become a ''family party''.

He claimed that the grand old party is getting weakened as it did not amalgamate regional aspirations with national aspirations and commitments.

Without naming Ghulam Nabi Azad, who quit the Congress days ago, Nadda said, ''Senior leaders with 40-50 years of association are leaving the party. It is because they have realised that Congress is now neither a national party nor a regional one. It has become a family party.'' He also listed out several regional outfits and claimed those too have become ''family parties''.

''The Indian National Congress was such a big party. But now it is getting weakened as it didn't amalgamate regional aspirations with national aspirations and commitments,'' Nadda said.

He gave examples of several states that the Congress had ruled for decades but does not have a strong presence now.

''The BJP is not run by a family, it runs on ideology. That's why nobody can stop it,'' the BJP chief asserted while addressing a meeting of party workers after inaugurating the rebuilt Northeast office of the saffron party here.

He said the BJP is marching ahead in the Northeast with sustenance with the party returning to power in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

Nadda asserted the same will happen in Nagaland and Tripura as well, NDA-ruled states that are going to assembly polls next year.

''There is no stopping to the journey you've embarked upon. There is no comparison with the opposition. They will try, but we will move ahead,'' he said.

Without naming former prime minister Manmohan Singh, the BJP chief questioned what he did for Assam and how many times he visited the state despite the state sending him to the Parliament for 10 years.

Speaking about the Emergency period, Nadda claimed that 1.3 lakh people were thrown into jails, of whom 70,000 were those with belief in the BJP ideology.

Apart from Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, his counterparts from Manipur and Tripura, N Biren Singh and Manik Saha respectively, were also present during the programme.

Sarma said that during the Congress rule, all the northeastern states used to fight with each other over boundary disputes, ''but now all differences are getting resolved through dialogue''.

He announced that the new headquarters of the Assam unit will be inaugurated in Guwahati on October 8 this year in the presence of Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

''In the next 2-3 years, we will set up offices till the mandal level. We have almost completed construction of district offices across Assam. We are also creating a big fund with members' contribution only,'' he said.

Singh said the Northeast was looked at as a ''troubled region'' and no chief ministers used to interact with each other.

''Now, there is a collective approach in every issue,'' he said.

Earlier in the day, Nadda was received by Sarma and other senior BJP leaders upon his arrival at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport here from Tripura.

He then went to Kamakhya Temple and offered prayers there.