In a stinging criticism of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s leadership, former Goa Congress president John Fernandes has demanded that the sick and ailing president should step down and hand over the baton of leadership of the party to her son and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi at the earliest.
Fernandes, who was the State president of the party from 2013-14, as well as two-time Rajya Sabha MP from Goa, also said that with Sonia Gandhi physically unwell, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan of making India Congress-mukt would not take time.
“If Sonia Gandhi is sick, then she should not make (the) Congress sick and she should not help Modi to make Congress-mukt bharat," Fernandes told reporters in Panaji on Wednesday.
The former State Congress leader’s comments come at a time when several party leaders have criticised the central leadership of the party over recent poll debacles.
Fernandes also criticised the functioning of the Congress party, pointing out that a session of the All India Congress Committee had not been convened for three years, after the thumping defeat of the party in the 2014 general polls.
The session, he said, was crucial for the Congress to plan its strategies going ahead, claiming that the Congress did have an ability to bounce back.
“The Congress should not be sick. The Congress can bounce back, if there are workers like me and we work together. Congress will come back because people want Congress. And Goa election is an indicator,” he said.