Senior Congress leaders of Madhya Pradesh have come forward seeking to shield party vice-president Rahul Gandhi from the blame for the rout of the Congress in the recently held parliamentary elections. After party general secretary and former state chief minister Digvijay Singh, now former Union Minister Kamal Nath on Sunday said it was not fair to blame Rahul alone for the poor show by the party.
Kamal Nath while talking to ‘The Pioneer’ over telephone said, “It is not fair to blame Rahul Gandhi alone for the poor performance by the party. He was only there for eight months.”
Attributing the results to an anti-incumbency factor against the UPA Government led by Manmohan Singh, the Congress leader said, “Rahul Gandhi was not in the Government. There was anti-incumbency against the Government.”
On reports that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi could offer to resign at the meeting of the Congress Working Committee scheduled for Monday to analyse the causes for the Congress debacle, Kamal Nath said, “I will ask Rahul and Sonia Gandhi not to resign.”
Calling for structural and organizational changes in the Congress to rebuild it, the Congress leader said elections should be held for the CWC, the highest decision-making body of the Congress party. “The highest decision making body of the party has to be elected. Patronage politics will continue if
internal elections are not held,” he said.
Asked to pinpoint the reasons for the Congress debacle, he said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should have been more forthright. “Communication was a problem. We failed to communicate our achievements to the people. I feel the PM could have been more forthright,” he said.
He also felt that in changing India, the Congress-led UPA failed to connect with an aspirational India. Digvijaya Singh had said on Friday, “The result does not have any bearing on the leadership of our vice- president (Rahul Gandhi) for whom we have got great regard, respect and have confidence in his leadership,” he said.
Asked why PM Manmohan Singh did not campaign for the election as much as party president Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi did, Digvijaya Singh clarified that though the prime minister was not a mass leader, he did campaign for the party in some States.