Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has come to the defence of the Gandhi family, saying they alone cannot be held responsible for the party's recent losses in the Assembly polls.
"The Gandhis offered to step down, but it was not accepted by the CWC. So, what is our option now? We need to speed up the process to elect a new Congress president. But the earliest that that can happen is August. But what do we do between now and August? Till then we, including me, believe that Mrs Gandhi is leading the charge," Chidambaram told NDTV in an interview.
He also said that the party would be open to alliances as a junior member on a state-by-state basis, such as with the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab or with the TMC in West Bengal, as it needs to make adjustments in order to beat the BJP. "If you fight the BJP state-by-state, it will be possible to defeat it," Chidambaram said.
Saying that the Gandhis accepted responsibility and should not be blamed for the party's losses in the Assembly elections, Chidambaram said: "Nobody is running away from responsibility. But the responsibility lies with everybody in a leadership position, be it at the block, district, state and AICC (All India Congress Committee) level. It is not enough to say that the AICC leadership is responsible".
The Group of 23 leaders in the Congress recently called for "inclusive leadership" within the party, which is seeing its political footprint reduce with each election. The call resulted in a major backlash from within the party itself, with senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday alleging that the G-23 leaders were attempting to break the party by continuing to hold meetings even after the CWC had discussed 'all' issues during its recent meeting.
Chidambaram said that the party would have full-time leadership in August, and that "all they can do" is take necessary and comprehensive reforms in the party organisation by then.
"I hope there will not be a split. Everyone should go back and rebuild party units," Chidambaram told the publication.
Chidambaram, however, conceded there were "serious deficiencies" in the party, "which I have pointed out, which others have pointed out like Kapil Sibal and Ghulam Nabi Azad. Organisational weaknesses."
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