Amid the Rahul Gandhi resignation saga, Shashi Tharoor was asked whether he feels he can lead the party. The Congress leader said he is ready for that responsibility. “If offered, certainly I would, but that is not for me to determine. Since so many of our stalwarts have lost, those of us who remain will have to take on extra responsibility. I am ready for that, he said,” Tharoor was quoted as saying in a Hindustan Times report.
The Congress Party is facing a huge internal conflict after losing the Lok Sabha Elections 2019, as its leader Rahul Gandhi is firm on resigning as the chief. He offered his resignation during the CWC meeting following Lok Sabha Elections Results. However, his request was denied by members of the Congress.
Another Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi suggested that Gandhi should not resign and consider going on march (yatra) to bolster the connection with the people. As a concerned Congressman, I feel Rahul should not resign as it would be playing in the BJP’s hand. I believe he should consider a 90 or 180-day-long train [tour]-cum-padyatra. It will certainly help in better connection with people,” Singhvi told Hindustan Times.
Singhvi also feels that the party should go under massive changes in its organisation and posts of many leaders of the party should be changed. “Posts such as general secretaries or CWC membership can’t be ornamental ones. People in these posts must bring value. At least 40% to 50% of these leaders must be changed. Gandhi must get a free hand to redesign Congress with fresh blood,” he said.
Regarding BJP’s massive victory in Lok Sabha Polls 2019, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor feels that BJP’s effective marketing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Lok Sabha Elections 2019 was the reason behind their victory. Tharoor pointed out that BJP managed their marketing campaigning during the elections very well. “One factor is, perhaps, the other side executed the crucial messaging better; they decided early that their “product” was Mr Modi and they marketed him very well. They built up the most extraordinary personality cult in modern Indian political history, buttressed by larger-than-life imagery, hundreds of thousands of social media warriors, an intimidated “mainstream” media, ubiquitous cameramen and a slick publicity machinery that was switched on 24/7. They also had great success in marketing many of their flagship schemes”, Hindustan Times further quoted Tharoor as saying.
Tharoor also mentioned that Congress underestimated the impact of national security on minds of votes. “Perhaps we could have done better to make the reality of the flawed delivery of such schemes more apparent. Another issue is we may have underestimated the impact of national security on the psyche of the voter. This is more true in the north than in south”, he further said.
