Amarinder opposes challenge to Gandhi family leadership, says India needs a strong, united opposition

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 23

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has opposed the bid by some Congress leaders to challenge the Gandhi family leadership of the party saying that the country needed a strong opposition against the BJP-led NDA that was out to destroy the country’s Constitutional ethos and democratic principles and that this was not the time for such issues.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, the veteran Congress leader said the NDA’s success was attributable to the absence of a strong and united Opposition, and the move by these Congress leaders to demand an overhaul of the party at this critical juncture would be detrimental to its interests, and the interests of the nation. India is currently facing not just external dangers from across the border but also internal threats to its federal structure, he said, adding that a unified Congress alone could protect the country and its people.

Terming the demand for leadership change as untenable, Captain Amarinder noted the immense contribution of the Gandhi family to the country’s progress since it achieved freedom from the British rule. “What Congress needs is a leadership that is acceptable not to just a few but to the entire party, through its rank and file, and the nation at large,” he said, adding that the Gandhis were the right fit for this role.

“Sonia Gandhi should continue to helm the Congress as long as she wanted,” he said, and added that Rahul should thereafter take over as he was fully competent to lead the party.

“The Gandhis were the only universally recognisable face of the Congress, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari,” Smarinder Singh said. “Electoral defeats cannot be the yardstick for leadership change,” he said.