Sonia should continue as Congress Prez: Amarinder

Thursday, 19/05/2016

http://epaper.dailyworld.in/Details.aspx?id=54181&boxid=74129&uid=&dat=2016-05-19

Rahul Gandhi can step into Sonia’s shoes if she feels that time has come for her to go

New Delhi  : Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said Sonia Gandhi should continue as party President irrespective of on Thursday’s poll outcome in the five states.

Singh, a former Punjab Chief Minister and a sitting MP, at the same time said that Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi can step into Sonia’s shoes if she feels that time has come for her to go and that she is “tired” of being at the helm of the party since 1997.

Exit polls have projected Congress losing power in Assam and Kerala.

“No, not at all.” Singh told NDTV when asked whether time has come for Rahul to take over as Congress President in the backdrop of suggestions in this regard with Sonia assuming the role of ‘Chairman Emeritus’. “I have worked very closely with Soniaji and I think she is a great leader.”

Singh, who returned as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) President in November last, said Sonia believed in modern concept of management.

Singh said any decision on elevating Rahul is for him and Sonia to take.

“She(Sonia) has been non-stop in this role since 1997 and she may be tired....may be she feels that time has come that she wants to go and that she is tired of handling this.

And in this case the Vice President can take over and Rahul can handle it,” he said.

“It has been years since he(Rahul) has been in his current role...I am sure he can step into her shoes,” he added.

Singh also denied reports of a rift with strategist Prashant Kishor who has been roped in by the Congress to hammer out strategies for the party for the Assembly polls in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh due next year.

“100 per cent. Things are 100 per cent fine. We’ve been together for the whole of yesterday, been together whole of this morning. We have no differences whatsoever,” he asserted when asked whether all is well between him and Kishor in the light of reports of a rift between them.

Singh said Kishor is “flexible” in his approach and that reports suggesting an uneasy relationship between them are “absolutely wrong”.

“His(Kishor) job is to brand Congress to improve its prospects. It is part of political warfare. We are gearing up for the poll battle,” he said, expressing confidence that the party will regain power.

Singh said speculation of a turf war between him and Kishor erupted when the strategist met expelled Congress leaders including Jagmeet Singh Brar while he was abroad for three weeks. Brar, a known detractor of the PPCC chief, was expelled last month.

“I was abroad for three weeks meeting NRIs all over America and talking to them, and he(Kishor) met a few people here and when I was asked by the press I said, ‘You know, the two people he met were the people who had been expelled from the party--let’s put it this way, because of a disciplinary matter--and a disciplinary matter is a matter of the PCC (Punjab Congress) and I will deal with that’.

“And that is all I said. But he met them in my absence and that is the only thing people have made a hue and cry about.”

Singh said he did not see Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) as a serious challenger for the Congress in the Punjab Assembly elections, asserting they only have some “damage” potential.

AAP had won four seats from Punjab during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, springing a major surprise.

He also claimed that the ruling SAD-BJP alliance was losing ground in the state.