Rahul and Priyanka have mass appeal but Congress won’t vanish without them: Adhir Chowdhury

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha, also said that Rahul and Priyanka alone cannot be held responsible for the Congress’ woes.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (file) | ANI

Kolkata: The Congress wants Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi at the helm of affairs but the party will survive even if they opt out of leadership roles, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha, has told ThePrint.   

Chowdhury said the duo have mass appeal but added that they alone cannot be held responsible for the Congress’ woes. “Had there not been Rahul Gandhi, would the Congress not exist? Where would the party go? The Congress will not vanish ever. People are being too speculative in reaching this conclusion,” the West Bengal Congress leader said.   

Even as the internal bickering in Congress rises in pitch every day, with top leaders taking to social media to speak about organisational challenges, Chowdhury urged seniors to re-build a “connect with people by taking to the streets”, instead of sticking to the virtual world. 

“No political party has ever survived without a political movement on the road,” he said. “Politics needs to be done for and with the people, not in cyberspace. We need to rebuild our public connect. For that we need to hit the streets every time there is a public issue. Our leaders need to be patient, speak less and work more.”   

‘Party under able leadership of Sonia Gandhi’

On the growing demand for a revamp of the Congress Working Committee, Chowdhury said that the party is not ‘orphaned’ and is “under the able leadership of Sonia Gandhi”.   

“It seems that people are getting too impatient. The ideologue fathers of the RSS and BJP were born in 1925, and their party took almost 100 years to get such a brute majority,” he said. “For Congress, it is just six years out of power. I would appeal to all to be patient.” 

He, however, refused to comment on what he said were the “personal opinions” of leaders such as Shashi Tharoor, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia. “I have no comments on who said what,” he said. “I can comment on the overall national politics and about Congress. We are under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, who led us to two consecutive victories in general elections.”

‘Our descent is complete, we will soon take off’  

The West Bengal Congress leader also said that he believed that the Congress’ troubles had reached their nadir and that the only way forward is up. “There is no magic wand available in politics. For everything there is a period for ascension and one of descent,” he said. “Our descent is almost complete. We will take off soon.”   

According to him, the humiliating defeat in Delhi is not a measure of the Congress’ prospects. “We did well in Jharkhand and Maharashtra. We are recovering ground,” he said. “But this is a slow process. It takes time.”   

With West Bengal scheduled for elections in 2021, Chowdhury, who hails from the state, admitted that the Bengal Congress needs a rejig. 

“Our organisation is very weak. There are factional feuds,” he said. “We joined hands with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress to oust the Left Front government, but she has slow-poisoned the Congress in the state.” 

“Continuous poaching and intimidation has damaged our party to a great extent. We also allied with the Left but they did not fight the elections sincerely,” he added. “They have called off the alliance. Now, we need to have a serious discussion about the Bengal unit of the Congress.”