Former Union Minister and Hockey Olympian Aslam Sher Khan on Friday offered himself to take the responsibility of the party, if Congress president Rahul Gandhi wants someone from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to assume the responsibility.
While talking to The Pioneer here on Friday, he said, “I wrote a letter when Rahul Gandhi offered to leave the post of Congress President and asked someone from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to take over his role. In the letter, I mentioned that if Rahul wanted to continue at the post he very well could, but if not, then I would like to assume the responsibility for two years.”
Notably, before assembly elections, Khan had created ripples in political circles by declaring that Congress is going the RSS way in Madhya Pradesh. A group of Congressmen in the state is set to form what they call the Rashtriya Congress Swayamsevak Sangh (RCSS).
However, even in the State assembly elections in 2018, he remained out of the PCC and was not shouldered any responsibility. In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, Khan was made in-charge of Balaghat Lok Sbaha constituency.
Khan is the first leader to stake claim to the post after Gandhi offered his resignation at the Congress Working Committee meeting in Delhi on May 25 following the debacle in Lok Sabha elections. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) had unanimously rejected the offer and passed a new resolution which authorised Gandhi to revamp the organisation.
Khan added his intent behind writing the letter was to ensure a makeover of the party and there were no hopes for any personal gains.
He further said that the letter was not written for personal gains. “It is because I believe Congress needs a makeover and it needs to be realigned with the nationalist identity. It is because of these reasons that I became ready to assume the responsibilities when the party is going through tough times,” he added.
Khan, however, said he did not blame Rahul for the defeat as "he left no stone unturned but the narrative of the Congress simply failed to connect with the people and they again went with Narendra Modi."