New Delhi: A day after the revised poll schedule for the next Congress president was announced, voices in favour of Rahul Gandhi grew in the grand old party. “We all want Rahulji to become the party president. He has been raising the concerns of the youth in the country. He is the only politician consistently taking on the BJP and the Modi government,” Youth Congress chief and CWC member BV Srinivas told this channel.
When asked that Rahul was reportedly reluctant and instead wanted a non-Gandhi to take up the top party post, Srinivas said it was not like that. “It is not correct. The poll schedule has been announced and things will be clear over the coming weeks,” the Youth Congress chief said while expressing the hope that Rahul would file his nomination.
The Youth Congress chief defended Rahul, under attack from veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad, who left the party on Aug 26, saying the veteran was levelling false charges and probably playing into the hands of the BJP.
“Rahulji actually delivered states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in 2018 after becoming party president in 2017. One should ask those who level such charges if they were also responsible for the Congress’ decline,” said Srinivas. “They did not say such things when they had positions. It seems Azadji is now doing the BJP’s bidding,” he said.
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Another CWC member and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat said that he and a large number of party workers wanted Rahul to take up the reins of the Congress again. “I will urge Rahulji to become the party president again. I am sure he will agree,” Rawat told this channel.
Former union minister Salman Khurshid also batted for Rahul saying the grand old party needed to manage aspirations of the youth in an age of transition. “Most party workers want Rahul to be the next party chief. This is an age of transition for the party and we need to manage the aspirations of the youth as well as the experience of the seniors in a better way,” said Khurshid.
“It is inevitable that the reshuffle of personnel will sideline some and give new opportunities to the others. There are many of us who are steadfast in the party not as inertia or lack of choice but because we have faith. There are many ways in which people can play with our faith and many ways of reaffirming it,” he said, without taking the name of Azad, his former colleague.
AICC Secretary in charge of Gujarat BM Sandeep and former Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda also said they want Rahul to take over as the next party president. “We feel Rahulji should become the next party chief. He is the only leader talking about unemployment, the biggest problem being faced by the youth in the country,” said both Sandeep and Chavda.
