india

Updated: May 29, 2020 17:09 IST

The BJP on Wednesday sought to underscore the difference between parties run by democracy and by ‘family’ in its first reaction to Rahul Gandhi’s statement reiterating his decision to quit as Congress president.

“It is up to him whether he continues or resigns. There are two types of parties, one like the BJP which is run by democracy, on the other hand you have family driven parties like the Congress. So it is for them to decide, we have no role, BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said, according to news agency ANI.

Gandhi, who quit on May 25 following the Congress’s poll debacle in the Lok Sabha elections, on Wednesday signaled that his decision was final and that the party should quickly call a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, the highest decision making body, to chose a new president.

Taking accountability for the 52-seat show of the party, Rahul Gandhi also hinted at other leaders having to share blame for the rout.

“As President of the Congress party, I am responsible for the loss of the 2019 election. Accountability is critical for the future growth of our party,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi said his fight with the ruling BJP had never “been a simple battle for political power” but a resistance to their idea of India. But he underscored that his stepping down from the Congress’s top post did not imply that was “stepping back from this fight”.

Highlighting the importance of the neutrality of country’s institutions, Gandhi said: “A free and fair election requires the neutrality of a country’s institutions; an election cannot be fair without arbiters — a free press, an independent judiciary, and a transparent election commission that is objective and neutral. Nor can an election be free if one party has a complete monopoly on financial resources… It is now crystal clear that our once cherished institutional neutrality no longer exists in India. The stated objectives of the RSS, the capture of our country’s institutional structure, is now complete,” he wrote.