Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh’s suggestion that Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi was focused more on the long term future of the party ignoring the immediate challenge of elections has been downplayed by the Congress on Thursday.
The party termed Ramesh’s comments as his “personal” opinion and said the party as well Gandhi takes every election seriously. “That opinion of Jairam Ramesh is his personal respectable opinion. As far as Rahul Gandhi and Congress are concerned, we take every election seriously,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said when his comments were sought by the media on the issue.
Congress spokesman Meem Afzal too distanced and kept away from raking up another controversy over Ramesh’s remark on Rajul. Afzal said he did not see it (Jairam’s interview). “Very honestly I did not see it. I even tried to contact him but could not,” Azfal asserted.
Ramesh, in an interview to an international news agency had said that his frustration was that Gandhi was too forward looking about building the party in the long term when facing the immediate short term challenge of elections.
BJP however continued to weigh upon the comments as Ramesh’s and his party’s admission of defeat. BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, “Practically even before starting the battle, they have conceded defeat.
“Ramesh cursing that Modi will be finished will not happen. This is exasperation and frustration. Therefore, they are cursing Modi which will not impact people who have decided to change the current regime,” Javadekar said.