Alleging that Congress had become the 'fiefdom' of a single family, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani has said that the country was paying a "heavy price" as the ruling party had reserved the post of Prime Minster to its nominee or a family scion.
"Sadly, the Congress today has become the fiefdom of a single family. The office of Prime Minister is reserved either for the nominee or a member of the Nehru family. India is paying a heavy price because of a Prime Minister nominated by the Congress president," Advani said in his blog posting.
This, he said, was in sharp contrast to a period when patriots of all hues like Shayama Prasad Mukherjee of Jan Sangh and B R Ambedkar were accommodated in the Cabinet after independence at the behest of Mahatma Gandhi.
Noting that there was an increasing demand from within the Congress that a scion of the Nehru family become the Prime Minister, he said the Prime Ministership of a great democracy like India should not be allowed to become the "jagirdari" of a family.
He said the country cannot afford continuation of the "misrule" that the UPA represents.
