Cong dismisses Arun Jaitley's suggestion PM's remarks

NEW DELHI: Congress today dismissed Arun Jaitley's suggestion that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's dig at BJP leader L K Advani about his ambition to occupy the top post was in fact aimed at politics of leadership in Congress.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal told reporters that "nobody else feels he has a birth right" when asked about Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley's veiled suggestion that Singh was hinting about Rahul but only took the name of Advani.

Jaitley earlier sought to give a new twist to the Prime Minister's remark.

"Members of a dynasty acquire right to govern as they are born in a family. I got the impression that the Prime Minister was addressing somebody else. In democratic parties, the election is based on merit," Jaitley said.

The Prime Minister's dig at Advani had come during his reply in the Lok Sabha earlier this week on the debate for cash-for-vote issue.