Congress can’t exist without Gandhis in lead: AK Antony

He also argued that the Congress cannot exist without the Nehru-Gandhi family leading it.

Antony, a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and head of the party’s disciplinary action committee, hopes to gradually withdraw from organisational responsibilities as he shifts base back to home state, Kerala — he is scheduled to leave Delhi on Thursday.

Asked about continuing as a CWC member and head of the disciplinary committee, he signaled he may not like to continue.

Antony is shifting base at a time the party is struggling to revive itself, battling a leadership crisis and groping in the dark to find solutions to organisational problems. Antony refused to be drawn into the Prashant Kishor saga. He also parried questions on whether any of the recommendations of an introspection committee that he headed after the Congress’s defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha polls were implemented.

He only said the Congress cannot exist without the Nehru-Gandhi family playing a central role.

Asked whether he wants Rahul Gandhi to take over as Congress president, Antony said: “The Congress cannot exist without the Nehru-Gandhi family leading it. And an Opposition bloc without the Congress will also have no relevance in Indian politics. Those who sincerely wish for a change of government at the Centre in 2024…they should accept the Congress’s main role…”

Hinting at parties such as TMC, he said, “If they think it can be done avoiding the Congress, I think they are living in a dream world. I don’t want to say more.”

He admitted that the Congress has weakened over the years and does not enjoy the “monopoly” it had in Indian politics but argued that “five or 10 or 15 years is a short period in a country’s history”.

Antony said the Mandal agitation and the Ram Temple movement were the main factors which weakened the Congress in the 1990s. “And it is the politics of polarisation now which has created divisions and hatred,” he said. “That is the problem…hate politics…. The issue now is how to counter that it is more important than organisational issues.”

The Congress weakened, he said, as a result of “polarisation politics and many other issues”. But “if you are sincere in bringing a change of guard at the Centre in 2024, the only way is to accept the Congress’s lead,” he added.