After a letter from senior Congress leaders to the party president Sonia Gandhi preferring a ‘continuous and visible leadership’ stirred a hornet’s nest, the Telangana Congress leaders fully backed the Gandhi family questioning the leakage of the letter to the media.
TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said he was surprised by the senior leaders leaking the letter despite knowing the existence of several platforms open for discussion of their grievances. He said party cadre understands that the Gandhi family holds the party together and without them at the helm of affairs party will not stay together in several States. Arguing that Mr. Rahul Gandhi should immediately take over, he said there was no alternative now, more so, at a time when the country needs the party to fight the divisive forces.
Expressing his anguish at the seniors, CLP leader BhattiVikramarka reminded that it is Rahul Gandhi who is leading the tirade against the Modi government when all these seniors laid low despite enjoying high positions when the party was in power.
Mr. Vikramarka reminded that it was under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi that the party rode to power in 2004 and 2009 elections. In fact, the leaders now calling for sweeping changes were part of those governments and enjoyed big positions in the government. “Their behaviour is irresponsible,” he said and favoured Mr. Rahul Gandhi to lead the party.
Former PCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah too argued in favour of the Gandhi family and said it was unfortunate that the party seniors chose to leak the letter to the media when there was every opportunity for them to discuss the issues internally. Their good intentions on strengthening the party are negated by the media leak, he said adding that the party should be headed by a member of the Gandhi family.
Marri Shashidhar Reddy, former minister and senior leader tweeted saying leaking the letter leads to suspicion behind their motive when the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting was scheduled. “How can this be justified or defended,” asked. AICC spokesperson, Sravan Dasoju also took to twitter saying Rahul Gandhi was the Gen Y leader with conviction for social justice, compassion towards the poor, courageous to fight the facist forces and commitment to protect the spirit of democracy.
Former MP and TPCC working president, Ponnam Prabhakar said it was not proper to confuse the cadre and the people in such a crisis time with such leaked letters when top leaders had access to the Gandhi family and also party forums for raising any issue. “In the present circumstances only Rahul Gandhi can lead the party and he had the qualities and the charisma to keep the flock together, and also address the issues raised by the party leaders,” he said.
