DK Shivakumar also defended Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s performance in Uttar Pradesh.
new Delhi:
The Congress cannot unite without the Gandhi family, the party’s top firefighter DK Shivakumar said on Thursday while defending the leadership after a humiliating 0/5 defeat in the state elections, which has drawn criticism from the leadership.
The party’s Karnataka unit chief said, “Without the Gandhi family, the Congress party cannot remain united. They are the key to the unity of the Congress party. Without the Gandhi family, it is impossible for the Congress to survive.”
Asked how he would settle the idea of the Gandhi family as a unifying factor, given the string of exits over the years, Mr. Shivakumar said, “Those who are power-hungry can please leave. Personally. People who see profit are leaving Congress. Rest of us are not interested in power… We are loyal to Congress party and Congress ideology and will always stand by Gandhi family.”
The Congress suffered a rout in the state election results announced on Thursday, with Punjab, one of the last major states under its control, losing to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and failing to put up a strong fight in three other states. It had hoped to return – Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
In Uttar Pradesh, where the campaign was led by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, daughter of party chief Sonia Gandhi and sister of senior leader Rahul Gandhi, the Congress got just 2 seats out of 403, a loss of 5 in the last elections. The party got only 2.4 percent of the votes.
The defeat revived discordant notes within and outside the party. Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said the party cannot escape change, while his colleague Jaiveer Shergill appealed for reform and warned against “sugar-coating” the damages.
The result is also likely to strengthen the case for a group of dissidents within the party, known as the “G-23”, which two years ago wrote an unprecedented letter to Sonia Gandhi calling for sweeping change and a “visible and effective leadership”. was asked for.
Supporting the leadership, DK Shivakumar said, “Priyanka Gandhi fought very hard and worked hard. But we could not bring results… The thing is that Congress is not able to convince the voters of this country. The people of the country are not understanding. We got a chance to convince them, but we failed to do so.”