Congress must be 'real alternative' in Gujarat, not BJP's 'B Team', says Rahul Gandhi
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday that a section of the party in Gujarat is hand in glove with the state's ruling BJP.
He said removing such functionaries was necessary for the party to do well in the state.
Addressing party workers in Ahmedabad, Gandhi said the people of Gujarat wanted "a real alternative" and "not a B team" of the BJP.
Gandhi said the party must throw out all those Congress functionaries who were maintaining links with the BJP clandestinely.
"Let these people work for the BJP openly. I am sure even the BJP will not accept them," Gandhi said. The Congress MP, who is also Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said that though Congress had not been able to form the government in Gujarat for three decades, it was still receiving a good share of votes in the state.
Gandhi said that only a five per cent increase in its vote share would take it close to the state's ruling BJP and added that Congress was able to increase its vote share by 22 per cent in the last assembly elections in Telangana.
Stating that small and medium businesses in Gujarat were in bad shape, Gandhi said the state of diamond and ceramic industries in Gujarat was a pointer to this fact.
Stating that people of Gujarat had got "trapped" politically, Gandhi said the Congress party, including himself, had failed to rescue the people from the trap. Stating that two top leaders of Congress - Mahatma Gandhi, and Sardar Patel - were from Gujarat, Gandhi said the state had a profound role in shaping the Congress party's ideology and policies.
Rahul said that the Congress must reach out to the people of Gujarat with what it had learnt from Gandhi and Patel to reclaim its lost ground in the state.
Rahul Gandhi, who is on a two-day tour of Ahmedabad, reached the city on Friday and had multiple meetings with Congress leaders on Friday when he discussed ways of strengthening the party. Next month, the AICC will have a session here, which will consist of a meeting of the Extended Congress Working Committee and a delegate conference.
