As suspense continues over ballot strategist Prashant Kishor’s plans concerning the Congress, senior celebration chief and CWC member Harish Rawat has mentioned he’s welcome to hitch “as a worker” however can not insist that the celebration ought to perform in a specific method after becoming a member of. The celebration can’t be “mortgaged” to a sure individual or sure particular person, nevertheless succesful he’s, Rawat mentioned.
Speaking at an Idea Exchange session of The Indian Express, Rawat, an AICC normal secretary, additionally expressed apprehension that the Trinamool Congress was “weakening” the Congress in election-going states by poaching its leaders. Mamata Banerjee’s strikes usually are not going to assist “Opposition unity” in “any way”, he mentioned.
Asked about Kishor, Rawat mentioned: “Anybody who is an Indian citizen and who has faith in certain values of the freedom movement and the Congress can become a member (of the party). So can Prashant Kishor. We are always open to new ideas. But the party cannot be mortgaged to a certain person or certain individual… He may be a very, very capable person, but we cannot say that, ‘Baba, now you do some work on our behalf, we will stop working’. The Congress has a very democratic method of working… everybody has a role to play. If Prashant Kishor feels he can play an important role through the Congress, he is always welcome. But he will abide by our constitution, our tradition… that is also very clear in our mind.”
Asked whether or not he meant Kishor ought to be part of primarily as a member, Rawat mentioned Kishor was identified and had experience, and the celebration might achieve from this. “But there is a method in the Congress and he has to adopt that. He has to come through that. First, he has to become the a member… then things will start rolling and we will find a suitable position for him, suitable task… because a man like Prashant Kishor… we will not keep him waiting for some job… But he should first join the Congress, then he should try to inject his views or inject how he wants the Congress to work.”
Recently, amidst speak of his becoming a member of the celebration and his conferences with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Kishor had in a cryptic tweet mentioned that hoping for the Congress’s revival primarily based merely on its Lakhimpur Kheri intervention had been “setting themselves up for a big disappointment”. “Unfortunately, there are no quick fix solutions to the deep-rooted problems and structural weakness of the GOP,” Kishor had tweeted.
Asked if Kishor’s tweet meant the previous guard of the celebration was pushing again in opposition to him, Rawat mentioned he was not aware of Kishor’s conferences with the management.
On the Trinamool’s bid to broaden past West Bengal, and its profitable wooing of Congress leaders like Sushmita Dev in Assam and Luizinho Felerio in Goa, Rawat mentioned this “eagerness” was “weakening the democratic forces opposed to the BJP”.
Expressing affection and respect for Mamata Banerjee, he mentioned, “We were together in the Youth Congress and in Parliament for a long time… The way she gave a fight to (Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah in (the West Bengal) elections, I have respect for that… (But) she should understand that in certain states where her party has no presence, she should not, during election time, take away some persons from the Congress and give her or him some position. By doing that you are weakening the Congress in Goa and the Northeast. It is not going to help Opposition unity in any way. This is my personal feeling.”