Cong putting in best efforts under Priyanka to regain lost ground in UP: Khurshid

The Congress has put its best efforts to regain its lost ground in Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of its general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, said Salman Khurshid, who stopped short of predicting the number of seats his party is likely to bag in the UP Assembly polls next year.To a question whether the Congress will be able to cross the double-digit mark, Khurshid told PTI, Of course...Of course.


PTI | Lucknow | Updated: 04-10-2021 00:04 IST | Created: 04-10-2021 00:04 IST
Cong putting in best efforts under Priyanka to regain lost ground in UP: Khurshid
  • Country:
  • India

The Congress has put its best efforts to regain its lost ground in Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of its general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, said Salman Khurshid, who stopped short of predicting the number of seats his party is likely to bag in the UP Assembly polls next year.

To a question whether the Congress will be able to cross the double-digit mark, Khurshid told PTI, ''Of course...Of course. How many seats we will have is best to talk about once she (Priyanka Gandhi) has firmed up her mind about who is fighting.'' The Congress currently has just seven seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

''You assess seats by looking at faces in various constituencies. In the air, I will say 400. But it makes no sense to say 400 seats,'' he said, adding that it is too early for him to say anything. On the Punjab crisis, the former Union minister said it has thrown an opportunity for the party to further strengthen itself there by projecting a Dalit chief minister. ''A lot of people believe that a crisis is an opportunity. I think that the opportunity that the crisis in Punjab gave and the fact that we were able to appoint the first Dalit chief minister, very down to earth and modest, I think is a breakthrough,'' he said.

He disapproved of Kapil Sibal attacking the party leadership, saying one should follow the leader and strengthen the party particularly in times of difficulties. Senior party leader Kapil Sibal had recently demanded that an immediate meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) be convened and wondered who in the party was taking decisions in the absence of a full-time president.

''Somebody who attacks my leader is attacking me because I am dependent on my leader. It is like attacking my home...We, who are with the Congress, have a deep sense of gratitude and allegiance to Mrs Gandhi and the party leadership. We are not willing to let somebody snatch that arrangement from us. We also feel angry,'' he said.

When asked to comment on the exit of Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada and others from the party, Khurshid said, ''When you ask me that, my answer is that I never had a plan for them to leave. Therefore, why should I have a plan to bring them back?'' ''They were all good people, they worked for the party, they had historical contributions to make to the party,'' he said. ''They decided to leave. I want friends in the press to ask me why have you not left? Don't ask why somebody else has left. I am happy to talk about why I have not left...I have not left, because I feel that my party has given me a lot," the Congress leader said. ''I have not left because you can't treat your relationship with the party only of taking, you have to treat the relationship with the party sometimes of giving,'' Khurshid said. On the party's affairs in the state, Khurshid said, ''I think that the best effort that can be put in is being put in. We are trying for a breakthrough and this breakthrough, I hope that she can achieve.'' ''We will wait for the results. I believe that we could have done nothing more, nothing better by the time we would have finished the campaign, it would have been a very wholesome, very very intense campaign. Let's hope for the best,'' he said. To a specific question that Rahul Gandhi has been missing from UP for a long time, Khurshid said, ''He is not missing. He has given a very challenging task to his sister to deal with UP. He does not want to interfere with what she is trying to do.'' Khurshid, who also heads the Congress election manifesto committee, said on the basis of the suggestion given by the public, Congress will bring its manifesto to people. Hitting out at the BJP government and other political parties, he said ''The Congress will fight the upcoming Assembly elections in alliance with the common people.'' PTI NAV RDK RDK

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Give Feedback