Is Congress paying price of its dynastic character?: Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Sunday took a dig at the Congress leadership saying that the dynastic parties succeed on the strength of some generations but sink with the others and wondered whether the grand old party was paying the cost of its dynastic character.

Nowadays, the minister said, some generic statements being frequently heard from Congress leaders are "What can I do? He just doesn't listen; Wait for the 24thof May, our politics will begin thereafter; I feel like quitting; Our campaign planning is lagging behind. I am told Uncle Sam has come to take care of it; Let's prepare 2024".

"They (the dynastic parties) succeed on the strength of some generations of the dynasty. They sink with the others," Jaitley said in his blog ahead of the seven-phase general elections beginning April 11.

Dynastic parties have one major drawback, the minister said adding, "if the current generation of the party is competent, charismatic and enjoys popular confidence, the dynast can pull-off major victories. There is an incentive in the party to rally behind him.

"However, if the current generation dynast is lacking in charisma, understanding and popular confidence, the crowd around the family gets increasingly frustrated. Is the Congress Party witnessing that?"
This, Jaitley said, leads to their miscalculation in their assessment of the calibre of highly incompetent ones. "They suggest that poor performers are not in a position to recognise their shortcomings and consequently are insecure and biased against the more competent ones."