New Delhi: After expressing his anger over party leaders giving preference to their families instead of the party, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday refused to meet Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot here.
According to party sources, Gandhi had given an appointment to Gehlot for a meeting at his residence at 11 a.m. on Monday.
“But he declined to meet him and asked him to meet General Secretary K.C. Venugopal,” a source said.
The sources said that Gehlot then met Venugopal and party leader Ahmed Patel. The snub from the Congress President comes two days after Rahul Gandhi did not spare even senior leaders of the party for the Congress debacle in the Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress won a total of 52 Lok Sabha seats, winning none in Rajasthan and just one in Madhya Pradesh.
Gandhi is believed to have said that Congress Chief Ministers Ashok Gehlot and Kamal Nath were eager to give ticket to their sons although the party President was not very keen on the idea as he felt that they had a bigger role to play in campaigning.
While Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath won from Chhindwara, Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot tasted defeat in Jodhpur.
Gandhi reportedly said that Ashok Gehlot campaigned in Jodhpur for a week, ignoring the other tasks of the party.
‘Free hand’ call
Senior Congress leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy on Monday said Congress Working Committee (CWC) members and AICC office-bearers should quit their posts to give a free hand to president Rahul Gandhi to undertake a complete overhaul of the party.
“CWC itself has passed this resolution, calling for an introspection and also what it called a complete overhaul and detailing restructuring at every level of the party. For such an exercise to be set in motion, it should start from the top,” he told PTI here.
“You cannot start doing at the grassroot level. Once you start from the top, it gives confidence to the people that yes, Congress party has now, (it is) taking stock of things and the working committee’s resolution is going to be implemented,” he said.
Otherwise, it will look like a routine thing, Reddy, a former MLA, said.
Reddy “whole-heartedly” welcomed the CWC resolution, rejecting Rahul Gandhi’s offer of resignation.
The Gandhi family is a binding force for Congress party in the country, he said.
No other leader has the same kind of reach and acceptability, Reddy, son of former (undivided) Andhra Pradesh chief minister Marri Chenna Reddy, said.
“Therefore, it is a futile exercise to think of a non-Gandhi president at this time and Rahul Gandhi needs to be empowered, given a free hand,” Reddy, also a member of AICC, said. (IANS)
