New Delhi, Oct 24 (PTI) Rich tributes were paid to former Congress chief Sitaram Kesri on his 25th death anniversary at the AICC headquarters here on Friday, with the ruling BJP saying the opposition party is remembering him ahead of the Bihar polls, years after his unceremonious exit from the post in 1998.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took potshots at the Congress for remembering Kesri with days to go for the Bihar polls. He alleged that the “first family” of the grand old party had “stolen” the presidentship from Kesri, whom he described as the pride of Bihar.
Congress leaders, led by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, paid floral tributes to Kesri at the party’s 24, Akbar Road headquarters.
It was the same place from where Kesri was removed as the party president by the Congress Working Committee in dramatic circumstances to pave the way for Sonia Gandhi to take over the reins of the organisation in March 1998.
Kesri, who hailed from Bihar, served as the Congress president from 1996 to 1998. He died in 2000.
Kesri had worked with stalwart leaders from Bihar who went on to become state chief ministers, including Bhagwat Jha Azad.
Addressing a poll rally in Begusarai, Modi raked up the alleged mistreatment meted out to Kesri, “the pride of Bihar and a towering backward leader” from whom the Congress president’s post was snatched away at the instance of “the parivar” (the Nehru-Gandhi family).
“Kesri hailed from a backward class and rose to become the Congress president. But at the instance of the parivar, he was humiliated,” the prime minister said.
“The country can never forget the manner in which Kesri was humiliated by this Congress family. Today reminds us what the Congress can do to snatch the rights of Dalits and backwards. Only the family matters for that party.
“You may have seen on TV — Sitaram Kesri, who was the pride of our Bihar, this family locked him in the toilet. Not just this, he was picked up and thrown on the footpath and the family stole the Congress presidentship from him…,” Modi said.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also flayed the Congress over its leaders paying tributes to Kesri on his death anniversary, alleging that they are “pretending” to show respect for the former party president just to “fool” people, with an eye on the Bihar polls.
“Time is a true leveller,” BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said.
“Once upon a time, at instructions of first family of Congress, Sitaram Kesri was humiliated — his dhoti torn, locked up and heckled to clear the throne of Congress for Sonia Gandhi,” he claimed in a post on X.
Poonawalla accused Rahul Gandhi of pretending to pay respect to the former party president just because the “Bihar elections are close”.
He accused Rahul Gandhi of harbouring “deep hatred for Biharis and the OBCs”.
Kesri was elected the president of the Bihar Congress in 1973 and treasurer of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in 1980. He served as the AICC treasurer for a decade.
The elections for the 243-member Bihar Assembly are scheduled to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. The counting of votes will be taken up on November 14. PTI SKC RC
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