Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan
Highlight
- Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan says he has not been able to meet Rahul Gandhi in the last four years
- Whenever I asked for time I met Dr. Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi but not for long time with Rahul Gandhi
- There is a complaint that the party leadership is not as accessible as it should be, he said.
Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who is a member of a group of dissidents in the party, has said that he has not been able to meet senior leader Rahul Gandhi in the last four years.
There was no ‘contemplation’ or introspection at the recent Congress convention in Udaipur, he told the Times of India podcast which was released on Thursday.
“Whenever I am in Delhi, I sometimes meet Dr. Manmohan Singh. But his health was not the same as before. He is always hospitable and ready to talk. I have also met Sonia Gandhi whenever I asked for time, but I have not been able to meet Rahul Gandhi for a long time… I think in four years. There is a complaint that the party leadership is not as accessible as it should be,” Chavan said during the interview.
The former Union minister is part of the G-23, a group of disgruntled leaders who have been pushing for organizational reforms in the Grand Old Party, which has suffered one electoral setback in recent years.
Speaking about the Udaipur meeting, Chavan said the Congress president had agreed to hold “chintan camps” to discuss issues before the party, but someone “more loyal than the king” decided not to contemplate or introspect. do not require.
“So, the Udaipur meeting was a ‘nav-sankalp (new resolution) camp’. The party felt that post-mortem was not needed and it only needed to look into the future.
“There should have been an honest introspection, not to fix accountability or hang people, but to make sure we don’t repeat those mistakes. After the Assam and Kerala assembly elections, one thing to go into is the party’s performance. The committee was formed. But the committee’s report was buried in a cupboard, which is not in the true spirit of things,” he said.
Chavan also said that Kapil Sibal, who left the party recently, felt strongly that the Congress leadership was not getting honest advice, and that ‘nominated’ persons only give advice that the leadership likes.
“If we want to defeat (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi in 2024, we have to do well in the upcoming 12 state assembly elections. We have to build a big, broad coalition of like-minded parties,” he said.
The Congress was witnessing a conflict between “people with experience” and “people with energy”, but a mix of the two is desirable, he said.
When asked about the decisions taken during the Nav-Sankalp camp, Chavan said these decisions have to be approved by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) before they become binding.
“We expected a chintan (introspection), which is a difficult exercise. The report of the committees formed after the last election defeat should have been discussed.
Chavan said the division of votes helped the BJP win and that a larger coalition led by the Congress should be led as a national alternative.
Stating that the Congress lacked leadership in many states, regional parties are trying to fill that gap, he said, adding that forming a large coalition of like-minded parties was difficult, but not impossible.
“If we lose in 2024, the spirit of liberal democracy will be lost. We have to hold elections in the party at the earliest.”
He also said that pursuing “soft Hindutva” was not a good strategy as people would go for BJP’s “hard Hindutva” in that case.
No Muslim voted for Congress in Uttar Pradesh. We have to define secularism very correctly. A state has no religion. It cannot take one religion over another,” the Congress leader said.
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