NEW DELHI: Days before Rahul Gandhi ’s coronation as Congress president, Times Now has accessed a set of audio tapes that blows the lid off a 70-year-old open secret: that the Congress is a familyrun proprietorship — despite vehement statements by all Congress officials to the contrary, including party president Sonia Gandhi . Times Now has tapes of senior Congress officials admitting to this in their private conversations, leaked by a dissenter.The tapes pose a serious challenge to Congress’s claims that Rahul is being elected to the top post through a fair and free vote. These tapes, which Times Now cannot independently verify or endorse, establish that the election is rigged to ensure that Rahul becomes Congress chief.Herewith a gist of the conversation between Maharashtra Congress secretary Shehzad Poonawala and former Union minister and top party official Manish Tewari:Poonawala: I have never seen a single secret ballot taking place for the election of delegates. They are essentially selected by state president who was also essentially selected by the Congress president.Tewari: Shehzad, have you thought all this through? Because this is a one-way ticket out of the party.Poonawala: Ya... but it doesn’t matter as long as I don’t want any post, I don’t want any ticket from any party. The point is, how long will dynasty, or just the fact that you bear a legacy, override your merit?Tewari: Let’s not get into an idealistic discussion. The fact is that this (Congress) is a proprietorship. It is not a political party and no party in India is a political party, they are all proprietorships. These are the second wave of reforms, which is very essential for the Congress. Now if you want to be a pioneer, you need to put everything else on hold — then it is worth doing.”Asked for his reaction, Tewari said he was unaware of any such television programme being aired. Indeed, after Shehzad’s open letter to Rahul challenging his elevation as Congress president, the party tried to distance itself from him.But there are clearly many who do not disagree with the issues raised by Shehzad. In another taped conversation, Congress official from UP, Acharya Pramod Krishnan, says internal party elections are “fake”. “I admit it’s 100% selection not election; if this continues, the Congress will become a Pvt Ltd company.”Raju Sharma, a mid-level party worker from Delhi, said although as per party constitution, the election of delegates is to be strictly based on secret ballet, no such thing happened. On tape, Sharma is heard saying “no elections were held, Ajay Maken just nominated the delegates”.