MARCH

Point
Out
Has the Congress party given up
and conceded defeat before general
election to Lok Sabha? Is the party
serious about contesting 2014
elections?
I don’t think that we have been ever
as serious as we are now. If you look at
the list which Congress has come out
with of 194 names, have you ever seen
Congress declaring the list before even
the manifesto is announced and that so
much before the elections? So we are in
the race on front foot, we are confident
and definitely we will win the election
and form UPA 3.
Has corruption in UPA-2 severely
dented the image of Congress
party? Is Congress a sinking ship
today?
First of all, I do not agree with
a question. You can’t say about
corruption in UPA 2, if you talk
about corruption, isn’t there
corruption in Gujarat
government? There are
convicted ministers
who are still holding
cabinet posts in Gujarat
government. We had BJP’s
ex-national president late
Bangaru Laxman convicted
on corruption charges and,
who not too long ago, shared
dice with Narendra Modi. So
corruption is there in BJP too. So, I
don’t think that question is right.
Congress on the contrary, has
not allowed any tainted
person to continue
in UPA 2. In some
cases party has
acted even
before formal
registration
of FIRs.
Surprisingly,
none of the
so called
opposition
parties have
proved them
on this count.
After a
humiliating
defeat in four
‘Bharat Nirman has completely
changed rural India. If you look
at the housing through Indira Awas
Yojna, we have been able to construct
a large number of houses, if you look
at poverty reduction 14 crore people
have been lifted out of poverty.
‘If you talk about corruption,
isn’t there corruption in Gujarat
government? There are convicted
ministers who are still holding
cabinet posts in Gujarat government.
state elections Rahul Gandhi,
who led the Congress party’s
campaign, told reporters, “The
Aam Aadmi Party involved a lot of
non-traditional people and we will
learn from that,”. Has the Congress
learned any lesson from Aam Aadmi
Party?
What Rahulji meant was that
Aam Aadmy Party, a new party has
been successful in winning support
of common people in large numbers.
There is no harm is learning from them.
Congress party has a large number of
members who have excelled in different
fields be it technology, sports, or arts and
culture. This time tickets have been given
to candidates with better credentials.
We want to open up the system and
make it so transparent that no grass root
level worker is denied of the right to
be named party candidate or denied of
the opportunity to choose a candidate.
Rahul ji has just done this, we know it
is a difficult path but we are sure it will
keep us in good stead in the long run.
From AAP were have learnt and evolved
our ways to choose candidates.
Do you think Congress and its
leaders have cut themselves off from
realities in India and aspirations of
people? The party does not want to
change and harps on the old ideas
still; do you feel the need for new
ideas and leadership?
I think Rahul ji has shown the light,
and way forward when he was in charge
of youth Congress and NSUI. He
started elections over there, in Youth
Congress we have around 80 lakh
members out of which we have
around 6 lakh elected office
bearers of youth Congress.
They are all elected through
secret ballots, so he wants
to emulate same with the
parent Congress also and
then finally it is linked
to the primaries where
in the assembly and
Lok Sabha ticket or
ever the local bodies
candidates are
chosen by workers
through secret
ballot.
34
MARCH 2014