On Sunday, 30 August, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, in his weekly column in Sena mouthpiece Saamna, said that stopping Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from heading the party will lead to its “extinction.”
He further wrote said that the party does not have a leader who can confront Prime Minister Narendra Modi with full might.
Commenting on the letter signed by 23 Congress leaders which was addressed to Sonia Gandhi regarding having a “full time” active leadership, Raut said:
”(Actively trying) to stop Rahul Gandhi will be instrumental in destroying the party and lead to its extinction.”
He also opined that while a non-Gandhi Congress president appears to be a good idea, nobody out of those 23 leaders are capable of leading the party.
This comes days after a fiery Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in which a 'dissent' letter by 23 party leaders, calling for a restructuring in the party, became the centre of attention. After high drama, which also saw the signatories of the letter being criticised on multiple fronts, the meeting ended with the decision in favour of Sonia Gandhi continuing as the interim chief of the party for the time being.
"The Congress still exists across India but with different masks. If these masks are thrown away, it can emerge as a prominent political party,” he added.
He quoted Congress veteran late VN Gadgil who described the Congress party as an “old woman who will never die.”
"Rahul Gandhi has to decide what to do with the old lady," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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