Shimla, July 1 (IANS) Taking a jibe at the Congress high command, Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said the party takes decisions on appointing national and state presidents on kitchen and dining tables.

“The Congress leaders do not know what democracy is. In the BJP, the president is elected democratically. In Congress, only the decision of the mother and son prevails…In the BJP, till at the last minute, no one knows who will be the next president. Even a common worker can become the president, and this is not possible in the Congress,” he said in the Himachal Pradesh capital while declaring Rajiv Bindal as the party’s next state President.

Over 1,000 BJP workers participated in the programme, where Union Minister Jitendra Singh declared Bindal as the President and gave him a certificate and a BJP flag. The party leadership appreciated this announcement by hoisting a big BJP flag on the stage, and the auditorium echoed with slogans like ‘Bharatiya Janata Party Zindabad’, ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Bindal-ji Aage Badho’.

In his address, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said, “I am returning your President to you by coming to Himachal. It’s very rare that a President retains the helm for the third time. This means that Dr Rajiv Bindal has that quality which makes the party strong at the grassroots.” The Union Minister said after the struggle of three generations, “today the BJP has become the largest political organisation in the world. I come from Jammu and Kashmir, where the BJP was not a tradition, but many workers joined the party and struggled to take the party to the top”.

He said, “When Congress leaders are out of power, they knock on the door of another party, but BJP leaders struggle for 50-60 years and still remain in the party. We are fortunate that today we are a part of this era of the BJP”.

The Union Minister said state Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, all MPs — former Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Suresh Kashyap, Kangana Ranaut, Rajiv Bhardwaj, Indu Goswami, Sikandar Kumar and Harsh Mahajan — have been elected ex-officio members of the party’s national council.

–IANS

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