P Chidambaram said, ‘There are serious flaws in the party which I have pointed out.
new Delhi:
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, who appeared to have indirectly criticized party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, today told NDTV that he had cautioned the party leadership in Uttar Pradesh against contesting elections and rebuilding the party at the same time. He suggested that reconstruction come first, he said.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was tasked with rebuilding the party in Uttar Pradesh four years ago by her brother and then Congress president Rahul Gandhi, was openly talking about doing both during the election campaign.
The Congress continues to lose ground in Uttar Pradesh, a state it has not ruled since 1989. In the recently concluded assembly election, the party was practically wiped out, losing five of the seven seats it won in 2017. The vote share of the party has come down. A modest 2.4 percent.
“In UP, we all know that the party has dried up over the years,” Mr Chidambaram told NDTV in an exclusive interview, where he also insisted that the Gandhi family was not responsible for the party’s recent electoral defeat. can be held.
“The people in charge of UP tried to do two things at the same time. The first was rebuilding the party and contesting elections. I had warned them that both could not happen at the same time. Reconstruction of the party should come first. And The election may come later. But unfortunately the party’s reconstruction and the electoral battle happened at the same time.”
He then added, “Therefore, there are serious deficiencies in the party which I have pointed out, which have been pointed out by others like (Kapil) Sibal and (Ghulam Nabi) Azad and therefore we have to address those organizational weaknesses.”
Mr Azad and Mr Sibal are among the disgruntled leaders known as the G-23 who two years ago called for massive organizational change and accountable leadership.
G-23 leaders are holding regular meetings amid calls for drastic changes after the latest round of defeats, fueling speculation of a possible split in the party.
Urging the group not to split the party, Mr Chidambaram said, “My appeal to them is to go back to their constituencies and build the party. Everyone should go back and rebuild the party units”.
Emphasizing that the Gandhi family accepted responsibility for the defeat, Mr. Chidambaram said they had accepted responsibility for Goa, and others had accepted responsibility for other states.
“No one is running away from responsibility. But the responsibility lies with everyone in leadership positions, be it at the block, district, state and AICC (All India Congress Committee) level. It is not enough to say that the AICC leadership is responsible is,” he added.