New Delhi: Senior Congress leaders who have become vocal ahead of the organisational elections are making observations, predictions about the future of the party and its future leadership, directly and indirectly.
Former governor and a known Gandhi family loyalist H.R. Bhardwaj on Tuesday pitched for leadership role for Priyanka Gandhi and said Rahul Gandhi is not capable of attracting crowds.
A former law minister who recently demitted office as governor, Mr Bhardwaj said Priyanka can revive the Congress if she is allowed to assume a bigger role in the party. “She resembles her grandmother Indira Gandhi. I have no doubt that she can involve the masses and revive the party,” said Mr Bhardwaj.
Asked how Rahul Gandhi fared, Mr Bhardwaj said, “When I was in Karnataka, I saw Rahul is not capable of addressing a mass audience. He would meet 50 university and college students and leave. That’s the basic difference.”
Mr Bhardwaj, however, was quick to add: “I have known him for a long time. Rahul is a decent man, well educated. But he has to shape himself in such a way that he can take everyone along.”
Mr Bhardwaj appears to have joined a club of party leaders like P. Chidambaram, Digvijay Singh, Sheila Dikshit, K.V. Thomas, Shashi Tharoor and others who have not been shying away from airing their views on the party after its electoral debacles.
Though their comments were made in “personal capacity” in the “interest of the party”, they are confusing the rank and file of the party.
