After the humiliating defeat in Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly polls, Congress is in disarray over its existence. Many Congress leaders are now openly criticising the party leadership for the decimating defeat and are also worried over its future.
In Karnataka Congress too, some of the leaders are much more vocal and directly criticising Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for the defeat. The grassroot level party workers are worried over the future of the century old party.Former MP from Mysore, Kodagu and senior Congress leader AH Vishwanath, accused Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi of not “being serious enough” to lead the party to victory. He also went on to admire Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a good example of active leadership by contrast.
In a statement at a press conference in Mysore, he said that Rahul Gandhi was competent, but lacks seriousness and mass appeal unlike Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Modi is serious and achieves what he aims for, but Gandhi lacks this quality”, he added, forcing the Congress leaders to think about the future of the party.
Vishwanath also claimed that he had suggested the Congress central leadership two months ago to give Priyanka Gandhi a larger role in the party matters. He said, “Honest introspection and taking hard decisions is the only way forward for the Congress.”
However Vishwanath refused to endorse that Modi wave was responsible for the party’s performance in Maharastra and Haryana. He said “I agree there was a Modi wave prior to the lok Sabha elections, but it has become diluted”.“The Congress lost in Haryana, Maharashtra because of anti-incumbency, not the Modi wave,” he asserted.
Another Congress leader and a Minister in Siddaramaiah Cabinet, Dinesh Gundu Rao, tweeted “@INCIndia will learn from its losses..time to strengthen committed grassroot leaders & weed out effete leaders operating out from Delhi.”like Vishwanath, Rao and others many are anguished over the apathy of the Congress leadership which has failed the aspiration of the grassroots level party workers. Since the BJP has decimated the Congress in two more States with its ‘Congress hataoo andolan’, it is time for the Congress to think of an alternative leadership to revive its future.