Congress party must look beyond family politics, says Prakash Javadekar

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday took a jibe at Congress leader P C Chacko for his "sycophant" behavior, stating that the Congress party must look beyond the "family politics" that they have inherited as a "legacy" from Jawaharlal Nehru.

"Truth must not be sidelined. Nehru was instrumental in starting the family politics. Congress was different earlier but he passed on the legacy to Indira Gandhi, which in turn brought in Rajiv Gandhi into the party fold. Due to them, we now have Sonia and Rahul Gandhi running the Congress. They must look beyond their family politics," Javadekar told media persons here.

Lambasting Chacko for his recent comments that "Prime Minister Modi has a negative opinion for the 'first family' of India," he said: "Chacko is a perfect example of a sycophant at its worst. PM Modi does not have a negative opinion of their family. He has a negative opinion of the work they have done."

"In my view, the Gandhi family is not the first family in India. For the BJP, the first family is the poorest family," he quipped.

He also hit out at Chacko for saying that it is because of Nehru's vision that the BJP government was able to achieve certain things during its tenure.