Congress will not survive a 'puppet' president: Prithviraj Chavan

Former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday cautioned that the Congress will not survive if someone is made a puppet president as the party announced the schedule to elect its new chiefStating that elections should be held for all posts including the Congress Working Committee CWC Chavan who is a member of the G23 dissident group said that urgent steps are needed to save the party and the backseat driving will not workSenior Congress leader also said that if Rahul Gandhi does not want to become the president then alternative arrangements should be made and a new Congress president should be elected through electionsOn Ghulam Nabi Azads resignation he said His resignation is unfortunate Elections are due in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh In JampK a very junior and outsider Tariq Hameed Karra was made the head of the Political Affairs Committee PAC and Azad Saheb was made a member What was the reason for this Was this discussed Chavan askedAlso Read Husband of CWG medalwinning wrestler found dead in suspicious circumstancesThere was no need to humiliate Azad sahib There was no need to say that he has no value Chavan said in an interview to PTIBHASHAAccording to him On one hand Sonia Gandhi tried to include leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma in the election campaign He was also given some responsibility The people at the bottom whom Azad sahib called coteri did not even listen to Sonia jiOn the issues raised by Azad in his resignation letter he said There are some personal allegations in Azads resignation letter I will not say anything on them The issues raised in the earlier letter of August 2020 are valid We stand by that even todayAn important issue is that if Rahul Gandhi has said that neither he nor anyone from his family will be Congress president then why he should not be believed If they are not made then another alternative arrangement will have to be made Elections should be held and then someone will become the president Chavan saidAzad had on Friday resigned from the partys primary membership and all posts alleging that the Congress leadership was cheating in the name of internal elections He had also accused Rahul Gandhi of immature and childish behaviourThe Congress had hit back at Azad accusing him of betraying the party and said that his DNA has been ModifiedWhen asked to what extent the issues raised by G23 in its letter were resolved Chavan said Some small steps have been taken We had asked for contemplation because we lost two Lok Sabha elections lost about 40 assembly elections Was there any meditation camp on this If we dont meditate it will continue like thisChavan referred to the defeat of the Congress in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the performance of the Congress in the assembly elections in various states held in the last eight years This was also mentioned by Azad in his resignation letterThe former Maharashtra chief minister emphasized that We stand by every point we made in the letter There are many things on which Ghulam Nabi wrote Now the time for talk is over now is the time for taking action If steps are not taken it will be difficult to save the partyGhulam Nabi Azad Anand Sharma and 21 other Congress leaders had written a letter to Sonia Gandhi after meeting in August 2020 In this he had made many demands to strengthen the party in which the demand for organization elections and active leadership was prominent The letter was seen as a challenge to the Congress leadershipMany leaders of the G23 including Azad Kapil Sibal and Jitin Prasad have left the Congress and some leaders like Veerappa Moily have distanced themselves from the groupingOn the discussions related to the names of Ashok Gehlot and some other leaders for the post of Congress President Chavan asked will the name be decided before the election then the election date will be toldChavan said You decide the date of the election whoever has to fill the form will come out Why are you causing the reverse process You will confirm the name in advance and then conduct elections does this ever happen Hold elections whoever has to fight will fightHe also said If backseat driving continues by making a puppet president then the party will not be able to surviveChavan also demanded holding of elections at every level of the organization in CongressAccording to the Congress constitution elections should be held for all posts Elections used to held for the Congress Working Committee and other postsOrganization elections were held for the last time 24 years ago during the time of Sitaram Kesari Now all the posts are headed by the people nominated by the Congress President No one speaks against the one who is nominated by the President Elected people give right advice to the President nominated ones dont do that Thats why the party loses Chavan reasonedThe Congress Working Committee on Sunday decided to hold the election for the partys fulltime president on October 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