'New Congress chief will be Gandhi family's puppet': BJP leader Sushil Modi

New Delhi: Amidst the hullabaloo around the election of a new president of the Congress party, BJP launched a scathing attack on the Grand Old Party saying the 'new party chief will be a puppet of the Gandhi family.' "Kharge or somebody else, whoever becomes the chief, he will only be a face to show and would be a puppet of the Gandhi family as the actual decisions will be taken by them only," BJP leader Sushil Modi said.

The BJP leader also commented on Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's election manifesto showing a distorted map of India which omitted parts of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh and said 'it cannot be a mistake.' "It cannot be a mistake, the way Shashi Tharoor removed Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh from the map of India reflect his mentality as it is not possible to remove such an important region of the country," he said. Notably, Tharoor had corrected and apologised for the same calling it a mistake by his team.

Congress' Central Election Authority Chairman Madhusudan Mistry on Saturday formally announced the candidature of Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor for the party president post. Another contender, KN Tripathi's nomination was rejected over some technicalities.

"A total of 20 forms were yesterday submitted. Of those, the scrutiny committee rejected 4 forms due to signature issues. There is time till October 8 for withdrawal, the picture would be clearer after that. If no one withdraws, the voting process will begin. The two current contenders for the post of Congress President are Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor," Mistry said.

"KN Tripathi's form was rejected as it did not meet the norms set, and had signatures-related issues," he added.