Rahul lacks stability, without post dictating terms, PJ Kurien

Senior Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha vice chairman PJ Kurien slammed MP Rahul Gandhi for posing a hurdle to the position of the president of Indian National Congress. In an interview to a vernacular weekly, PJ Kurien condemned Rahul Gandhi as a leader who has ‘no stability’ and who ‘always escapes from responsibilities’. Kurien suggested that someone outside the Gandhi family should take up the reins of the party, which faced a massive defeat in assembly elections in five states recently. Kurien  accused  Rahul Gandhi  of not consulting seniors in the party while taking decisions and opined that it is not necessary that the outfit's president is always elected from the Gandhi family all the time.

Further slamming the Congress leadership, Kurien said, “Rahul Gandhi resigning as party president shows his instability. When the party went through a crisis, as party president he should have led from the front . When a ship is about to sink, the captain should not have left it.” “He should have had a meeting with the seniors of the party. Instead of that, he just discussed it with the caucus surrounding him. Those are people who have little experience,” said Kurien. “The Congress party president post has been vacant since Rahul Gandhi ran away from his responsibilities after the failure in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But even now, all policy decisions are taken by Rahul Gandhi , which is not correct,” said the senior Congress leader. “A person who said that he does not want the post of the president is taking the decisions and not allowing someone else to take the position. This is not acceptable,” said Kurien.

“We (G23) won’t have any problem if Rahul Gandhi becomes party president again through an organisational election. The party should have a full-time president. Congress not having a full-time president is a major problem,” said PJ Kurien. Congress leader K V Thomas, who was served a show cause notice for attending the CPI(M) congress, said: “What he (Kurien) said is right.” Meanwhile, Kurien will stay away from the political affairs committee meeting.