Congress' blame game: Party should do ruthless introspection, say leaders

New Delhi: Congress should do "ruthless introspection" and only those having experience of fieldwork should be given leadership roles, party leaders said on Thursday in a veiled attack on 'Team Rahul' in wake of its crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.

Congress leader Milind Deora, who had Wednesday said that Rahul Gandhi's advisers did not have their "ears to the ground" and those with "no electoral experience" were "calling the shots", today stuck to his guns, saying his comments are borne out of deep loyalty to the party and pain due to its performance in the polls.

"My comments are out of emotions of deep loyalty to the party, pain of our performance & a sincere desire to see us bounce back. Nothing more," Deora said on Twitter.

In another tweet, he said, "Field party work & electoral battles are key to comprehend ground realities. This should form the basis for leadership posts in Congress."

His remarks are significant as there are murmurs in the party that a number of people having no electoral experience and novices in politics were given key roles in shaping up the decisions of the leadership on issues like campaigning and alliances.

Deora lost from South Mumbai to Shiv Sena's Arvind Sawant while Dutt lost to BJP's Poonam Mahajan.

AICC Secretary Priya Dutt, who met Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday, also talked of a "disconnect" of the party leaders with the people. "I would not really like to talk about Milind's comments but there is disconnect between people on the ground and top leaders. The top leadership should take opinion from a wide range of people and MPs."

"We need to bridge that gap. We need to bring that right upto the leadership. There is a lot of criticism. We have to look at where we have gone wrong in the past ten years," she added.

Senior party leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi appeared to be in agreement with the views expressed by Deora and hoped that an "honest and ruthless introspection" is carried out to rectify the problems.

Chaturvedi said while whatever Deora stated might not be fully correct but "large portion of what he said is correct".

The remarks are considered significant in the wake of a growing perception in the party that a number of people with no electoral experience and novices in politics were given key roles in shaping up the decisions of the leadership on issues like campaigning and alliances.

Both Deora and Dutt lost the elections in Mumbai. They are considered to be part of Rahul's team and it may be mentioned that Deora's assertions in the past on some issues were also followed up by action taken by the Congress Vice President.

Senior Congress leader Capt Amarinder Singh, however, said the Congress should take "collective responsibility" for the rout in which the party got just 44 seats.

NCP leader Majid Memom said Deora's remarks signify that he has indirectly commented on Rahul also.