Active Stocks
Tue Mar 19 2024 13:21:10
  1. Tata Consultancy Services share price
  2. 4,013.45 -3.17%
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 149.80 0.13%
  1. Bharti Airtel share price
  2. 1,232.00 0.57%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 259.75 -1.98%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 409.65 -1.86%
Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Congress may be led by a non-Gandhi politico, says Chidambaram
BackBack

Congress may be led by a non-Gandhi politico, says Chidambaram

Chidambaram said that a non-Gandhi politician could take over in the future from party president Sonia Gandhi

Chidambaram has urged the leadership to be more communicative about the Congress’s agenda. Photo: BloombergPremium
Chidambaram has urged the leadership to be more communicative about the Congress’s agenda. Photo: Bloomberg

New Delhi: Former finance minister P. Chidambaram has said what was once unthinkable for a Congress leader to voice publicly: a non-Gandhi politician could take over in the future from party president Sonia Gandhi.

In response to a question whether a non-Gandhi family member or someone not from the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty could be the head of the 128-year-old Congress party, Chidambaram said in an interview to NDTV 24x7 television channel: “I think so—someday."

When asked about the dependence of the Congress party on the dynasty to provide the party with leadership and electoral wins, Chidambaram said: “It so happens that he (party vice-president Rahul Gandhi) is from that family but that doesn’t mean that other younger leaders cannot emerge."

He cited the example of former minister of corporate affairs and current Rajasthan state Congress chief Sachin Pilot.

The former finance minister’s remarks follow another electoral rout for the Congress in the 15 October assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana, where it finished third after ruling the states for 15 and 10 years, respectively.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the single largest party in the Maharashtra assembly. It also won power in Haryana for the first time, winning a majority.

“It is a strategic design by P. Chidambaram and the Congress party to divert attention of the people from the Gandhi family," Bidyut Chakrabarty, a political science professor at Delhi University, said about Chidambaram’s comments on a non-Gandhi politician’s possible rise to the party presidency.

“Congress has lost the election in Maharashtra and Haryana, and it doesn’t want the blame to be on Gandhi family," Chakrabarty said.

To be sure, Chidambaram said that at present the Congress party’s most acceptable leader was Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of prime minister Rajiv Gandhi; she assumed the post of Congress president in 1998.

“I think the most acceptable leader today, at least of my generation, the most acceptable leader of the party is Mrs Sonia Gandhi and I think among the younger members of the party there is wide acceptance of Mr Rahul Gandhi. That doesn’t mean other leaders cannot or should not emerge. This is a large country...there must be other leaders who would emerge firstly at the state level and then at the national level."

As long as Sonia Gandhi was Congress president, “I think she is numero uno," Chidambaram said, adding that the creation of the post of Congress vice-president and Rahul Gandhi’s appointment to that post in January last year “was a deliberate strategy to hand over the baton to next generation".

In the interview, Chidambaram urged the leadership to be more communicative about the Congress’s agenda. “Congress morale is low, the leadership must respond urgently..," Chidambaram said.

Chidambaram’s comments come against the backdrop of the Congress party’s worst-ever performance in a general election. In the election concluded in May, the Congress won only 44 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. The BJP won the election with 282 seats, becoming the first party in 30 years to win a majority on its own.

The Congress’s spectacular defeat was attributed to alleged corruption, as well as its inability to communicate to the electorate the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA’s) achievements in its 10-year reign.

Chidambaram also defended the party against recent insinuations that some leaders may figure in a list of Swiss bank account holders who had allegedly stashed away black money.

He said if Congress politicians indeed figure in the list, the reason could be individual transgressions. “It is not the party but individuals who will be embarrassed," he said.

Chidambaram said the Narendra Modi government had done nothing new to uncover black money, crediting the Congress-led administration for having pushed Swiss authorities on secret bank accounts held by Indians.

His comments were in response to finance minister Arun Jaitley’s remarks to NDTV in an interview earlier this week that one former UPA minister and some Congress leaders were among those with illegal Swiss bank accounts. Jaitley cited information received recently by the Indian government.

“I didn’t ask to see the names, neither was I shown the names as finance minister," Chidambaram said. “These accounts were not being kept from the party. The party did not authorize them (individuals) to keep the accounts," Chidambaram said when asked whether he could substantiate Jaitley’s statement.

Chakrabarty agreed with the rationale, saying no political party would allow its leaders to keep illegal accounts in foreign banks.

“It is an attempt to protect the party from any allegations or any wrongdoing. At least on paper, no party can allow its members to have illegal accounts," he said.

Chidambaram said that the “purpose" of the finance minister’s comments on Congress names figuring in the list was not the recovery of black money but “blackmail".

On the performance of the 150-day old BJP-led government headed by Modi, Chidambaram said he would give the government some more time before pronouncing his judgement on it.

“Micro-managing programmes, refurbishing them, the government has done well to capture the imagination of the people... I would give them time," the former minister said.

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Politics News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
More Less
Published: 24 Oct 2014, 05:08 PM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App