Congress does not look beyond Gandhi family irrespective of its members’ abilities: Anurag Thakur

PTI, Apr 5, 2022, 1:47 PM IST

With Congress President Sonia Gandhi underlining the challenges her party faces amid its continuing poor show in polls, the BJP on Tuesday took a swipe at its main rival, saying it does not look beyond the Gandhi family irrespective of whether its members have the ability or not.

Speaking to reporters, Union minister Anurag Thakur said every member of the Gandhi family has tried its hand in helming the Congress but it continues to face defeat, with an overwhelming number of its candidates even losing deposit in the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

Rahul Gandhi steered the party in the West Bengal polls but the Congress could not win a single seat, he said, adding that the party performed poorly in the Uttar Pradesh polls when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra spearheaded its campaign. Now Sonia Gandhi has again taken control of the party’s affairs, he said.

”The question that keeps cropping up within the Congress is will its leadership continue to be limited to one family whether its members have ability or not,” Thakur said, adding the Congress cannot put its house in order unless it solves this issue.

With India’s neighbours like Pakistan and Sri Lanka plunged into crisis due to various reasons, he said it will be acknowledged that people of India have chosen the right leadership in Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The country is advancing, he said as he highlighted its successful COVID-19 vaccination programme and free grain schemes for over 80 crore people. Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday called for unity at all levels of the organisation, while noting that the road ahead for the party is more challenging than ever before and the spirit of resilience of party workers is under severe test.

Addressing a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), she also hit out at the BJP, saying the ruling party’s ”divisive agenda” has become a regular feature of political discourse in all states and that history is being ”mischievously distorted” to add fuel to its agenda. Referring to the party’s performance in recent assembly elections, Gandhi said she is aware ”how disappointed you are” as the results have been both ”shocking and painful”.