The Congress on Monday sought to shield its vice-president Rahul Gandhi from any blame for the Assembly polls debacle in Haryana and Maharashtra even as it ruled out any leadership role for his sister Priyanka. AICC Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala insisted that crores of Congress workers have reposed their collective faith in Rahul and Priyanka has confined herself to Rae Bareli and Amethi lok Sabha constituencies only.
At the same time, Surjewala said that Congress will go for “course correction” and build “new leadership” to arrest its sliding vote base in a number of states. “Crores of Congress workers have reposed their collective faith in Rahul Gandhi. Some individuals may have some doubt. As far as Congressmen are concerned, they have no doubt about his ability. They see the future of Congress in the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. I think we should honour the feeling of crores of workers,” he said.
The chorus for bringing Priyanka to the forefront was made on Sunday when about 200 Congress workers led by INTUC president Jagdish Sharma demonstrated outside the AICC over the issue. Sharma has been leading the ‘Priyanka lao’ front. “As a grassroot worker I can say and understand that only Priyanka can save this grand old party from being completely decimated,” Sharma told The Pioneer when asked to react on AICC’s stand on Rahul.
Surjewala, however, said, “This question has been asked by all of you many times and also answered from this podium. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has on her own limited political role in Raebareli and Amethi. We should respect that decision.”