- Chorus for Rahul Gandhi as Congress president grows louder
NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MARCH 12
As Congress’ top brass met to deliberate on its recent electoral debacle, its leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday pointed to the party having the largest number of MLAs in the country in the Opposition camp and asserted that it was “worth reforming and reviving”.
The CWC unanimously reaffirms its faith in the leadership of Smt. Sonia Gandhi and requests the Congress President to lead from the front, address the organisational weaknesses, effect necessary & comprehensive organisational changes in order to take on the political challenges. pic.twitter.com/OffiEFhPex
— Congress (@INCIndia) March 13, 2022
Taking to Twitter, Tharoor shared a list of the number of MLAs that respective parties in the county have nationwide. According to the list shared by him, the Congress has over 750 MLAs, the most after the BJP which has over 1,400 legislators.
कांग्रेस अध्यक्षा श्रीमती सोनिया गांधी जी की अध्यक्षता में कांग्रेस कार्यसमिति की बैठक pic.twitter.com/6J13RUHLHC
— Congress (@INCIndia) March 13, 2022
It was not clear when this list was compiled as the Samajwadi Party, which won 111 seats in the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, did not figure, though it did have some parties with less than 100 legislators.
”This is why incindia remains by far the most credible of the national opposition parties. It’s also why it’s worth reforming & reviving,” he said sharing the list.
The Congress lost Punjab to the AAP, could not wrest Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur from the BJP and gave its worst performance in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh.
The Congress Working Committee met on Sunday to discuss the outcome of the assembly elections in five states as the opposition party reels from the latest electoral debacle.
After the crushing defeat in the assembly polls, party MP Shashi Tharoor had on Thursday said it is time to reaffirm the idea of India that the Congress has stood for and reform the party’s organisational leadership in a manner that will reignite those ideas and inspire the people.
Tharoor, who was among the Group of 23 leaders, who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking an organisational overhaul, also said “change is unavoidable” for the party to succeed.
"Opposition must discover a better Modi to checkmate NaMo"
Read my column @NewIndianXpress @INCIndia@AITCofficial @samajwadiparty@arivalayam @cpimspeak https://t.co/edNK7t4IkB
— PrabhuChawla (@PrabhuChawla) March 13, 2022
Chorus for Rahul Gandhi as Congress president grows louder
The chorus for making Rahul Gandhi Congress president again grew louder on Sunday as several leaders and workers voiced support for him to take on the mantle of party chief.
Ahead of a crucial Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said no one was taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Gandhi does and was fighting resolutely.
“The prime minister has to start his speech after targeting Rahul Gandhi, you can understand what this means. All of us want that Rahul ji should take on the mantle of party leadership,” Gehlot told reporters.
He also hailed Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for resolutely fighting in Uttar Pradesh, saying the ‘Ladki hoon lad sakti hu campaign’ resonated in the entire country.
Gehlot alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the recent round of assembly polls by indulging in polarisation. However, he accepted that the Congress lost in Punjab due to infighting.
The Rajasthan chief minister also accused Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati of colluding with the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.
Karnataka Congress president D.K. Shivakumar also backed the idea to make Gandhi the party chief.
“As I have said it earlier as well, Sh. Rahul Gandhi should take up the Congress presidency in a full time role immediately. This is the wish of millions of Congress workers like me,” he tweeted.
Congress workers from around Delhi, who converged near the party office, were not allowed to enter the AICC headquarter as traffic was held up and the road outside the party office was barricaded by the police.
A group led by Delhi Congress leaders, including Alka Lamba, voiced support for Gandhi to lead the party and raised slogans in his and Priyanka Gandhi’s favour.
Youth Congress chief Srinivas B V said the Gandhi family is the thread that binds together not only the Congress but all sections of the country and it is not dependent on any electoral victory or defeat.
Rahul Gandhi had resigned as Congress president after the party suffered its second consecutive defeat in general elections in 2019. Sonia Gandhi, who took over the reins of the party again as interim president, had also offered to quit in August 2020 after strong criticism by a section of leaders, referred to as G-23, but the CWC had urged her to continue.
