Congress should find new president through democratic elections, and preferably not from Gandhi family: Sanjay Jha

Days after being removed as a spokesperson, Congress leader Sanjay Jha on Friday said the party should find a new president through democratic elections, and preferably not from Gandhi family.

While talking to Outlook India, Sanjay Jha said that “There is no dearth of outstanding talent within the party. The uncomplicated way forward is elections; not just for the post of the president, but also within the CWC.”

He also said that close coterie around Rahul Gandhi pre-selects his access. "It cannot be denied that there is a close coterie around him (Rahul Gandhi) that pre-selects his access, which is absurd as most of them would not know the difference between Muzzafarpur and Muzzafarnagar. Leaders must have a fan club, not a fawn club," Jha told Outlook India.

Sanjay Jha also said he is certainly contesting the next CWC elections and will present his blueprint for the Congress to make a comeback. "The writing is on the wall; we need a rejuvenated, energised, self-driven Congress that is resolute in its intent to recover lost ground and once again win public trust. It is possible. But we need fresh faces, a new perspective, an organisation where people are heard, and no one afraid of the consequences for challenging the status quo," he said in the interview.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on June 17 removed Sanjay Jha as a party spokesperson, days after he wrote a newspaper article critical of the party.

In the article published in The Times of India, Jha had said, “The Congress has demonstrated extraordinary lassitude, and its lackadaisical attitude towards its own political obsolescence is baffling...I would like to call a spade a spade here and a shovel: there has been no serious effort to get the party up and running with any sense of urgency.”

“There are many in the party who cannot comprehend this perceptible listlessness. For someone like me, for instance, permanently wedded to Gandhian philosophy and Nehruvian outlook that defines the Congress, it is dismaying to see its painful disintegration,” he had further added.