Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor during the latter’s book — Nehru: The Invention of India — launch event in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

Jaipur: Slamming Congress leader Shashi Tharoor for his remarks that India has a tea seller as its prime minister today because of the country’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wedn-esday retorted that rather Nehru became the Prime Minister on “compassionate grounds”.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the only person who became the country’s PM due to massive public support and majority whereas former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru could become the first PM of the country on compassionate grounds,” BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said in a news conference.

“And Indira Gandhi (became the PM) due to her syndicate,” he added.

Mr Trivedi, however, did not elaborate further upon his observations.

Speaking about Nehru on the eve of his birth anniversary (November 14), Mr Tharoor had said Tuesday that it was because of the institutional structure created by Nehru that even a “chai wala” (tea seller) can become India’s prime minister today.