Amid the talk of the formation of an opposition front with the Congress as its integral part to take on the BJP in the next general elections, the Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra face a huge challenge of the revival of their party. ''Both have a big challenge of reviving the Congress,'' he said after his meeting with them last week in New Delhi.
Raut in his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana, said the Gandhi siblings should take inspiration from Lokmanya Tilak, who had transformed the Congress into a weapon of political revolution. Raut, whose party is heading the Maha Vikas Aghadi government with Congress and NCP in Maharashtra, said during their meeting, Rahul told him the system of creating and building leaders has stopped in the Congress and that the latter never disrespected senior party leaders. He quoted Rahul as saying that he had requested senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to take charge of the Congress' Jammu & Kashmir unit after his Rajya Sabha term expired, but the latter refused.
"He can become the chief minister again after elections. But he refused saying the Congress didn't exist there. Azad ji has been the chief minister there and he thinks the Congress doesn't exist there,'' Raut said quoting Rahul. "Rahul said the party had given a lot to its elder leaders. They are taking a different stand when the party needs them. "What can I do?" Raut noted. He also said Rahul told him that during Captain Amarinder Singh's tenure as the chief minister of Punjab, the Congress's graph declined.
The Sena leader said Gandhi told him that during a poll, Singh had got "only six per cent votes" as CM, while those who were not even in the chief ministerial race got more votes than Singh. According to Raut, the Congress MP also said that even if West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticises him or the Congress, he will not react to it. Rahul’s statement came days after Mamata during her Mumbai visit took a dig at him saying one cannot be abroad most of the time
