Mahasamund, November 18: Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped up attacks on Gandhi family, alleging that Dalit leader Sitaram Kesri was not allowed to complete his term as Congress president. Campaigning ahead of second and final phase of polling for Chhattisgarh assembly election, PM Modi said four generations of a family (Gandhi family) ruled the country and benefited from being in power, but the country did not benefit from their rule.

"The country knows that Sitaram Kesri, a Dalit, was not allowed to complete his five-year-term as Congress president; he was thrown out of office and into the footpath to make way for Sonia Gandhi as the new party chief," PM Modi said on Sunday. Referring to senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's statement that a Chai Wala became the prime minister because Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru created the institutional structures, PM Modi said, "Make a person outside the Nehru-Gandhi family president of Congress party for five years and I will agree that Pandit Nehru made a 'Chai Wala the PM."

Earlier, the prime minister challenged the Congress to make someone from outside the Gandhi family its chief for at least five years if it respected democracy. “If you so much respect the democracy, do a small thing. If you claim that because of your principles, your faith in democracy, the Constitution and Pandit Nehru, Modi, a chaiwala, could become the PM, appoint someone good from outside the (Gandhi) family as the Congress president for just five years,” he had said.

Responding to PM Modi's dare, former union minister P Chidambaram reminded him of the party's legacy by listing out the names of its presidents from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family. In a series of tweets, Chidambaram listed out the names and said the Congress was proud of the humble origins of its post-Independence leaders like Babasaheb Ambedkar, Lal Bahadur Shastri, K Kamaraj and Manmohan Singh and many others besides thousands others during pre-Independence days.

While the BJP has been ruling Chhattisgarh for 15 continuous years, the Congress was in power in the state only for three years after the state was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 18, 2018 04:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).