Crores trust in Rahul, says Cong as calls for Priyanka grow louder

After yet another electoral drubbing at the hands of Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress sought to shield Rahul Gandhi from any blame even as it ruled out any leadership role for his sister Priyanka Gandhi.

Amidst murmurs among Congressmen that Priyanka should take up leadership role after the Lok Sabha debacle followed by Monday’s dismal performance in Maharashtra and Haryana, party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala insisted that Priyanka Gandhi has confined herself to Raebareli and Amethi Lok Sabha constituencies.

“Crores of Congress workers have reposed their collective faith in Rahul Gandhi. Some individuals may have some doubt. As far as Congressmen are concerned, they have no doubt about his ability. They see the future of Congress in the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. I think we should honour the feeling of crores of workers,” he said.

The chrous for bringing Priyanka in the forefront was made on Sunday when about 200 Congress workers demonstrated outside the Congress headquarters over the issue.

Surjewala, however, said, “This question has been asked by all you many times and also answered from this podium. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has on her own limited her political role to Raebareli and Amethi. We should respect that decision.”

At the same time, he said that the Congress will go for “course correction” and build “new leadership” to arrest its sliding vote base in a number of states.

Senior Congress leaders, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the party has no future without Gandhi family leading it and there was no question of dumping Rahul. 

The choice of Rahul is a decision taken by all the members of the Gandhi family and attempts to create a Rahul versus Priyanka tussle is being made by some in the party to secure their turf.

Read: Same old story: Bruised Congressmen raise 'Priyanka lao' call yet again