Even as a sharp divide surfaced in Congress over leadership of party second-in-command Rahul Gandhi with several young leaders asking seniors not to blame him for the lok Sabha debacle, the Congress vice-president attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that while “PM played drums in Japan and India reeled under power crisis”.
His remarks prompted the ruling BJP to hit back with Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu saying, “His (Rahul’s) voice is not heard by his own party, why should we listenIJ”. In Mumbai, BJP President Amit Shah retorted, saying that, “Digvijay Singh said we lost because Rahul Gandhi keeps quiet. Digvijayji, it’s good that he is silent, otherwise Congress wouldn’t have got even 44 seats.”
A day after some of the Congress leaders vowed to guard Rahul from bad mouthing by old guards of the party, a resurgent Gandhi scion said Modi came to power by making big promises but his Government is yet to even begin working on them despite completing 100 days in office.
“They had made big promises but where is the resultIJ They might have forgotten so let me remind them. They said they will change the country, bring down prices and reduce corruption. 100 days are over.At least begin working now. People say they have not even started working. The PM is playing drum in Japan while there is no electricity here and prices are rising,” Rahul said talking to the reporters at Amethi
During his recent visit to Japan, Modi had displayed his musical side by playing drums while taking part in a function.Rahul’s power crisis jibe came even as he himself earlier faced some grilling by his Amethi electorate over power scarcity in the area. He said he has written a letter to the Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in this regard. Rahul visited villages polling maximum votes for him in the recent lok Sabha elections including Bhikhipur and Barkhudas Ka Purva among others and interacted with people. He was informed about problems relating to power and water crisis in the constituency besides demand for a water tank in Bhikhipur which, he said, would be constructed through his MP fund. He also offered prayers at Baba Saheb Mazar.
Rahul also admitted to differences in opinion in Congress over issues and said there has always been “this type of tension” in the party. “The party will deal with the issue. Congress party is an old organisation. There are multiple voices and all those voices will bring solution to the party,” he said.
To a question on the youth in the Congress asserting themselves, Rahul said it is an old party and everyone has opinion of his own. “There are multiple voices in the party and all of them bring solution to problems,” he said.
To resolve the prevailing crisis, four young Congress Secretaries met party General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi to convey their concerns over senior leaders publicly criticising Rahul. AICC Secretaries Harish Chowdhary, Naseeb Singh, Prakash Joshi and Shakeel Ahmed Khan had a meeting with Dwivedi, who is party’s General Secretary in-charge of organisation. Sources said the young leaders handed over a letter to Dwivedi apprising him of their concerns. The letter does not name any leader in person but it was apparently aimed at number of leaders, who have criticised Gandhi and his team’s strategy during the polls.
The move comes days after Dwivedi and another party general secretary Digvijay Singh had made remarks that included prescribing an age limit for holding active posts and concluding that Rahul should be seen more active in politics. The remarks, the young leaders feel, have damaged the party’s interests and image.