Veteran Congress leader and former Union minister Vasant Sathe on Sunday said it is time Ms Priyanka Vadra gets into active politics to help the party get back to power on its own in the 2014 general elections by discarding the “crutches”.
Mr Sathe, known as an old loyalist to the Gandhi-Nehru family, expressed his views on the day the Congress-led UPA-2 completed its second anniversary.
He said that if the Congress’ “first family” — Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party MP Rahul and Priyanka — embark on a vigorous mass contact drive in the months and years to come, the party could restore the past glory of single-party rule in the next Lok Sabha polls. “I tell you with guarantee that if Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka go out all over the country, then you will see a revival of the Congress with the emergence of a vibrant organisation. There are no shortcuts. It is time to throw the crutches,” the 86-year-old former Union minister told PTI. He further said that after Mrs Gandhi, Priyanka is the one who has more mass appeal as compared to Rahul but she is not coming forward in active politics as she apparently feels her brother will be “sidelined”.
Mr Sathe, who was a close associate of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, said that in her difficult days, the late leader struck a rare chord with people through her mass appeal and contact and the same should be emulated now. Accusing the “baseless people” acting as advisers of the leadership for promoting alliances, he said, “The theory of coalitions is not only ridiculous, but disastrous for the Congress as it saps the energy of the organisation instead of making it strong.”
Regretting that there was growing impression among people that the Congress president was “unapproachable”, he said that Mrs Gandhi could remove it by embarking on a major mass drive. He said Rahul’s visits to the houses of the poor were useful, but what is more important is “mass contact than individual contact”.
Mr Sathe said that he had taken Indira Gandhi to Vinoba Bhave during the difficult days when the Congress had lost badly in the post-Emergency elections. At that time, Vinoba’s advice to her was to reach out to the people.
This was the need of the hour as regional leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Jayalalithaa and Nitish Kumar were growing and “national parties are proving to be weak, including the Congress”, he said.
“A fragmented leadership at the Centre will not be in the interest of the country,” Mr Sathe said.