Gandhi family 'stole' Sitaram Kesri's Cong presidency: PM

NEW DELHI: PM Modi on Friday invoked the "insults" heaped on former Congress president Sitaram Kesri by the Gandhi family to accuse the party of denying rights to SCs and OBCs, as he launched his Bihar poll campaign attacking the opposition over backward-class welfare.Recalling Kesri's controversial removal in 1998 to make way for Sonia Gandhi, Modi said country would never forget how the family insulted the "pride of Bihar". "This family stole Kesri's presidency of Congress," he said at a rally in Begusarai - a pointed twist on Rahul's charge of "vote theft".The PM's attack came on Kesri's 25th death anniversary. Earlier in the day, Rahul, along with Congress general secretary K C Venugopal, paid tributes to Kesri at the Congress headquarters on Akbar Road - ironically, the venue of his ouster as party chief.Kesri, a freedom fighter from the OBC Bania community, headed Congress from 1996 to 1998 and earlier served as Bihar PCC chief and party treasurer. When many in the party sought Sonia's elevation, veterans insisted Kesri be allowed to complete his term. But the Congress Working Committee appointed Sonia, claiming Kesri had resigned - a charge he denied. His removal under controversial circumstances reportedly saw his nameplate tossed away and the octogenarian forced out of AICC office.

"This family locked Kesri inside a bathroom and threw him to footpath," Modi alleged.Kesri had taken over from P V Narasimha Rao after Congress lost power in 1996, but as Sonia decided to enter active politics ahead of the 1998 polls, loyalists pushed him out in what many called a "coup".Congress has denied any mistreatment of Kesri. TNN