Asserting that the Congress needs a “major surgery” in the wake of the Lok Sabha poll debacle, senior leader M. Veerappa Moily said Rahul Gandhi must carry out a complete overhaul of the party by holding elections at every level and quell internal bickering with an “iron hand”.
Emphasising that Mr. Gandhi alone can lead the party, Mr. Moily said it was the AICC in-charges and chiefs of States where the party has done badly who should be held accountable and not the Congress president.
‘Rahul still chief’
Mr. Moily asserted that Mr. Gandhi continues to be the AICC president and that he has not stepped down.
“He (Gandhi) said that owning moral responsibility he will step down. (The Congress) Working Committee (CWC) has been unanimous to say that he has to continue. That holds good even today,” he said.
Mr. Moily said it was not fair that Mr. Gandhi, who took over the reins of the Congress in 2017, quits as president after being at the helm only for about one and a half years and asserted that he must be given a substantial time to prove himself.
He asserted that with elections in States such as Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Haryana coming up, Mr. Gandhi has to immediately step in.
‘Start immediatly’
“This is not the time to deliberate on who should be the next president. He has to put proper people in-charge of States in the AICC, start the process right now, without any loss of time. Proper candidates for elections will have to be selected... One has to take the reins in his hands and that should be done only by Rahul Gandhi now,” the former Union Minister said.