Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed that several members of his party’s Gujarat unit were “conniving” with the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, The Indian Express reported.
Gandhi added that the Congress was ready to dismiss 20 to 30 such members. He was addressing party workers in Ahmedabad at the end of a two-day visit to take stock of the Congress’ operations in Gujarat.
“Why has the Congress not been able to fulfill the expectations of the people of Gujarat for the last 20 to 30 years?” The Indian Express quoted Gandhi as asking. “The answer is that the leadership of Gujarat, the workers, the district and block presidents of the party have two kinds of leaders.”
The first kind stands with the public, fights for them and respects them because they have the party in their hearts, Gandhi said. “The other, who sits aloof, does not respect people and is conniving with the BJP,” he alleged. “Even if we have to remove 20 to 30 people, we will do it.”
Gandhi said that any Congress member found to be working for the BJP would be “sent out so that you can work for them openly”, The Indian Express reported.
“You will realize that you have no value there [in the BJP],” he said. “Forget about winning and losing [elections], senior leaders should have the blood of the Congress running through their veins. The control of the organization should be with such leaders.”
He added: “The moment we do this, the people of Gujarat will want to storm into the party and we will have to open our doors to them.”
Gandhi said that the revival of the Congress in Gujarat was not a “two to three-year project but a 50-year project”.
Responding to the accusations, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla called Gandhi the “BJP’s biggest asset”, NDTV reported.
“He has trolled himself and his party,” NDTV quoted Poonawalla as saying. “He tried to show the mirror to himself. Such an honest reaction…Rahul Gandhi admits he is unable to win in Gujarat, unable to show the way.”
Union minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh said that Congress workers in Gujarat had expressed a lack of faith in Gandhi’s leadership.
“When questions are raised on the leadership, then the supporters and cadres leave the party,” the minister of textiles said.
