MUMBAI: Congress leader and former CM Prithviraj Chavan, a member of the Congress G-23 group, has said he has not been able to meet Rahul Gandhi in the last four years. The recent Congress conclave in Udaipur was “not a chintan shibir” for introspection, though “we expected a chintan shibir,” he told The Times of India podcast which released on Thursday.
“I occasionally meet Dr Manmohan Singh whenever I am in Delhi. But his health is not what it used to be earlier. He is always hospitable and ready to talk. I have also met Sonia Gandhi whenever I sought time, but I have not been able to meet Rahul Gandhi for long time. . . I think in four years…There is a complaint that the party leadership is not as accessible as it should be,” Chavan said.
The G-23 leaders have been pressing for organizational reforms in the Congress party which has suffered a series of serious electoral setbacks in recent years.
On the Udaipur meeting, Chavan said the Congress president had agreed to hold a “chintan shibir” to discuss issues before the party, but someone “more loyal than the king” decided the word “chintan or introspection” wasn’t needed so it was “erased and replaced with the word ‘nav sankalp’ (new resolve). ” “So, the Udaipur meeting was a nav sankalp shibir. The party felt that a post-mortem was not needed and it only needed to look at the future,” he said.
Chavan added, “There should have been honest introspection, not to fix accountability or hang people, but to ensure that we don’t repeat those mistakes. After the Assam and Kerala assembly polls, a committee was formed to go into the party’s performance. But the committee’s report was buried in a cupboard, which is not in the correct spirit of things. ”
Chavan also said Kapil Sibal, who recently quit the party, felt strongly that the Congress leadership wasn’t getting honest advice and that ‘nominated’ persons only give the advice the leadership likes.
“If we want to defeat (PM) Modi in 2024, we have to do well in the ensuing 12 state assembly elections. We have to have a large, broad coalition of like-minded parties,” he said.
Asked about decisions taken during the nav sankalp shibir, Chavan said these decisions have to be ratified by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) before they become binding. “We expected a chintan shibir, which is a difficult exercise. Reports of the committees set up after the previous election debacles should have been discussed,” he said.
Division of votes helped BJP win, and a large coalition has to be led by the Congress as a national alternative, Chavan said.
