New Delhi, March 26 (IANS) Even as it attacks the Congress for its "dynastic politics", the BJP appears to be charting a similar course going by the number of sons and daughters of its leaders in the fray for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has often derided Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi as "shehzada (prince)" in his election rallies and refers to the Congress as a "sultanate (kingdom)."
But when it came to ticket allotments, the saffron party behaved no differently and nominations for princelings abound.
The sons of two sitting and three former chief ministers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are in the fray in the Lok Sabha polls despite the party's stated opposition to "dynastic politics".
Anurag Thakur, son of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, is re-contesting from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, while Varun Gandhi, MP and son of party leader Maneka Gandhi, has shifted to Sultanpur from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh. Sultanpur is adjacent to Congress vice president and Varun's cousin Rahul Gandhi's Amethi constituency.
Poonam Mahajan, daughter of former union minister Pramod Mahajan, is the BJP candidate from Mumbai North-Central.
Former union minister and party MP Yashwant Sinha's son Jayant is fighting for his father's Hazaribagh seat in Jharkhand.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh's son Rajbir Singh is contesting from Etah.
In Delhi, former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma's son Parvesh Verma, an MLA, is the party candidate from West Delhi.
Dushyant Singh, son of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is fighting from Jhalawar in the state.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh's son Abhishek is the party candidate from the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency.
But the BJP insists the party cannot be compared to the Congress.
"The Congress dynasty is the dynasty of leadership. It is not about making someone an MP or an MLA. In the Congress, it starts from the top and percolates to the bottom and is dynastic in totality," BJP leader Prakash Javadekar told IANS.
"In the BJP's case, the party leadership, be it Atalji or Advaniji or even Rajnathji, no one has monopolised decision-making.
"In the Congress, only the Nehru-Gandhi family takes decisions...that's the Congress' legacy; the final decision maker is dynastic," he added.
Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed, however, accused the BJP of double standards and said that not just the party but also its allies were also dynastic.
"Modi regularly criticises dynastic politics. The BJP has three allies - the Badal dynasty, the Thackeray dynasty and now the Paswan dynasty," Ahmed countered.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) headed by Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, the Shiv Sena headed by Uddhav Thackeray and Bihar's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) headed by Ram Vilas Paswan are part of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
Ahmed said he was a third generation Congressman and was proud of this fact.
"I am a third generation Congress leader and I am proud of it. The BJP is not that old. How could they have third or fourth generation leaders," Ahmed asked while speaking to IANS.
Analyst Pradip Kumar Datta said that children of BJP leaders getting tickets indicated "Congressisation" of the party.
"I don't know if dynastic politics is native to the Indian way of thinking... the 'Parivar' (Sangh Parivar) was supposed to be about ideological parivar (family), not one based on kinship," said Datta, professor and former head of Delhi University's department of political science.
"Perhaps it is the 'Congressisation' of the BJP. On one hand we have the family lineages and on the other we have 'Modi-fication'... everything is focussed around Modi, not the BJP," he added.
Jio Recharge 30 Days: Five plans of Jio with 30 days validity, starting from Rs 181
Following the order of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Jio, Airtel, and Vi have recently launched some of their pre-paid plans with a validity of 30 days. Some of these plans are also valid
Bigg Boss 19 Elimination: Another strong contestant is out of the Bigg Boss house, a big twist will come in the show.
A total of 16 contestants entered the controversial reality show Bigg Boss Season 19, including several prominent celebrities including singers, actors, and social media influencers. Shehnaaz Gill's
Delhi CM Oath Ceremony: Along with Rekha Gupta, 6 ministers will also take oath, names of Pravesh Verma and Kapil Mishra included
In the BJP government of Delhi, six leaders will take oath as ministers of Delhi Cabinet and the Chief Minister at Ramlila Maidan today. According to the latest information, Pravesh Verma, Ashish
China News: Xi Jinping's dream of making China a global power in football suffered a blow
Alleged corruption at the top level of football in China has come to the fore. After this, President Xi Jinping's dream of his country becoming a global power in this game is not being fulfilled at
Asian Rich List 2022: British PM Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy made a place, these people of Indian origin also included
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy have made it to the UK's 'Asian Rich List 2022'. The Hinduja family has been placed at the top of this list.
Kejriwal tasks departments with halving power rates
New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday tasked the finance and power departments with preparing proposals to halve power rates and provide free supply of water, up to
T20 WorldCup: India-Pakistan T20 World Cup match under threat of terrorist attack, ISIS-linked organization issues video threat
The countdown to the T20 World Cup has begun. The tournament is starting from June 2 as per Indian time. However, the fans are waiting for the India-Pakistan match to be held in New York on June 9.
Ukraine crisis: world's big companies angry with Russia, so far many big brands have stopped services, these names including Apple-Google
The war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified. Monday marks the 12th day of war between the two countries and thousands of people have lost their lives so far, while cities and towns in Ukraine
Ganesh Chaturthi 2024: Stars immersed in the devotion of Lord Ganesha, seen with the idol of Bappa
Today is Ganesh Chaturthi and this festival is celebrated with great pomp in our country. On this day, the countrymen worship Lord Ganesha. All the devotees install the idol of Bappa and worship him
S.I Miniz said: TATA Steel, iron ore mine will resume automatically
As India is well known for his third largest supplier of iron ore in the world, but after the restriction over the past three years to curb illegal mining have prompted companies. such as: Tata Steel
