New Delhi: The Congress is a dynastic party with a "reservation policy" for the top job kept in "perpetuity" for members of the Nehru family, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said on Friday.

"The BJP is a democratic party, and the Congress is a dynastic party. There is a reservation policy for the top slot in the Congress. It is reserved in perpetuity for members of the Nehru family," he said at the India Today Conclave 2008 here.

Advani's remarks came on the day Congress president Sonia Gandhi completed 10 years as party chief. He was speaking on "How the BJP's leadership differs from that of the Congress".

"How brazenly an entire party has been appropriated and made into a family fiefdom, and how slavishly the Congressmen have resigned themselves to this appropriation, this is one of the sad developments in India's political evolution," he said.

He also criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for carrying "no authority".

"I pity Manmohan Singh. The fact is, although he is the prime minister of India, he has the title but no authority... Instead of a contract with the people of India, he has a contract with just one individual, who is described by many people as the super prime minister," Advani said, referring to Sonia Gandhi.

The BJP leader also spoke of the way the office of the prime minister was being "deliberately devalued".

"10, Janpath, (Sonia Gandhi's address) has become more important than 7, Race Course Road (the prime minister's house)," Advani said.

Referring to the imposition of emergency in 1975 by then prime minister Indira Gandhi, Advani charged the Congress of "destroying" the basic structure of the constitution.

He also said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was "singularly lacking in both cohesion and vision".

"This is because there is no mutual trust, or any commitment to a larger national goal. The UPA is nothing but an opportunistic alliance to keep the BJP out of power by raising the bogey of secularism," Advani said. He also said that the Congress was "compromising" with the country's internal security.

Source : IANS