Congress will disintegrate, struggle for existence if Gandhi family quits leadership: Vivek Tankha

Because we know that if the Gandhi family leaves the leadership, the Congress will disintegrate to the degree that we may not be able to save its existence, Tankha told reporters here.Terming the Gandhi family a unifying factor, the 65-year-old Congress leader said the party can fight against the Narendra Modi government only because of the leadership of the Gandhis.

Ahead of the upcoming organisational elections, senior Congress leader Vivek Tankha on Tuesday said if the Gandhi family steps aside from the leadership, the party will disintegrate to such an extent that it will become difficult to save its existence.

"There is no difference of opinion that the Congress party is rallying behind the Gandhi family and is loyal to them. Because we know that if the Gandhi family leaves the leadership, the Congress will disintegrate to the degree that we may not be able to save its existence,'' Tankha told reporters here.

Terming the Gandhi family a "unifying factor," the 65-year-old Congress leader said the party can fight against the Narendra Modi government only because of the leadership of the Gandhis. "Among the Opposition leaders, it is only Rahul Gandhi who criticises PM Modi the most," the Rajya Sabha MP said.

Tankha, however, added that Congress will choose its leader when organizational polls will be held in September.

It can be recalled that Tankha was the part of the G 23 group of Congress leaders who had written a letter to party president Sonia Gandhi demanding organisational reforms and a full-time president.

One of the most vocal members of this group, Kapil Sibal, had already left the Congress party and filed the Rajya Sabha nomination as an Independent candidate backed by Samajwadi Party.

Tankha said Sibal had taken this step out of his own accord. The Congress never asked him to leave the party, he added.

Referring to the political crisis in Maharashtra, Tankha alleged that the BJP has launched an orchestrated campaign to topple the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress.

''In a democracy, governments are formed in the House (parliament or state assemblies), but BJP has distorted the democracy and set a new trend in which governments are formed and pulled down by confining MLAs in hotels like captives,'' he alleged.

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