The comments come at a time when the party is facing an existential crisis, made worse by infighting in state units.
NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Wednesday said there is nothing wrong in his comment that the biggest problem was that Rahul Gandhi walked away after party’s debacle in the general elections even as the party advised its leaders to refrain from making such statements ahead of assembly elections.
The comments come at a time when the party is facing an existential crisis, made worse by infighting in state units.
Elaborating his comments, Khurshid said he is pained by the state of party at present and there is immediate need to put the things in order.
“The party could have fared better in assembly elections if he (Rahul) would have stayed. I have very deep pain and concern about where we are today as a party. We won’t leave the party no matter what happens, we aren’t like those who got everything from the party and when things were difficult they left the party and walked away,” Khurshid said.
Emphasising that Sonia Gandhi should continue as full-time party chief, Khurshid said: “We have very less time and the party should take some immediate steps. The reason for some delay in those steps was because our leader Rahul Gandhi has left us. By this I mean that he was our president and we wanted him to be on that seat for long.”
The Congress party asked its leaders to avoid making such comments and rather should put their act together to expose BJP’s failure on various issues.
“The party is working united to take on the BJP in Haryana and Maharashtra and leaders should avoid making such comments,” said party spokesperson Pawan Khera.
BJP targeted Rahul over Khurshid’s comment, saying even the Congress leaders do not know where the Gandhi scion is at present