"The Congress contribution is that it brought independence and democracy...It also ensured that those without degrees can become MPs and Ministers," Azad, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, told reporters.
There has been a row over the educational qualification of the HRD Minister.
Irani had earlier taken on Sonia Gandhi over her barbs at Modi, saying she was targeting him to hide her failures, and likened her praise for Rahul Gandhi over his stir against land ordinance with the case of a mother patting her son's back for "usurping" farmers' land, a reference to the recent Amethi land row.