Amid the intense Gujarat election campaign, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who landed in a soup after his name figured in the register for non-Hindus at the Somnath Temple, is also facing the heat from within the party. Congress leader from Maharashtra Shehzad Poonawalla has called the party’s internal elections, scheduled in December, “rigged”. The party maintained that his assertion is merely a publicity stunt and there is no truth in it.
Shehzad’s brother, Tehseen immediately took to social media platform and disassociated from his sibling and accused him of washing dirty linen in public. Tehseen’s wife Monicka Vadra, who is a cousin of Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, also jumped into the quarrel saying she has no association with Shehzad either. It was not clear whether Tehseen officially belongs to the Congress.
Facing heat from his family members for taking on Congress high command, Shehzad tweeted, “Tehseen is not in Congress party.”
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said a “true Congressman” will never make such remark the way Shehzad has done. “I don’t think there is any truth in what Shehzad is saying. Moreover he is not a Congressman. For two-and-a-half-years there has been hardly any involvement in the party issues by this person particularly. I think whatever he is doing is only to gain publicity,” Chavan said in his reaction.
Shehzad on Wednesday sparked a controversy after he lashed out at Rahul just days before his elevation as the party’s president and said that his election to the top position is “rigged” and a sham exercise. He said that Rahul must resign from his current position first to lose the “unfair advantage” he has over other possible candidates. He said it will be a “selection” of Rahul and not election.
Shehzad also directly challenged the Gandhi scion saying, “Will he be ready for a televised debate where we both as contestants can have a debate on what is our vision for the Congress? We can be judged on merit, not on the surname.”