Indira Gandhi’s aide slams Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Makhan Lal Fotedar, who rose to become a Union minister, made critical remarks on party president Mrs Sonia Gandhi, saying that despite her many virtues, political management was not one of them, and her obsession on7 promoting Rahul had created problems in the party.

Amid a raging debate on when and if Rahul would take over the reins of the Congress, Mr Fotedar says Rahul has a “certain stubbornness” and his motivation to become a leader was “not very strong”.

“Rahul Gandhi’s leadership is unacceptable to the people of this country and Sonia Gandhi has her best years behind her. The party has no one to provide direction. It refuses to learn.

“It has made wrong choices while appointing Opposition leaders in both Houses of Parliament. It has made the wrong choices about how to deal with challenges in the Assembly elections. In fact, there is nothing right which the party has done or is doing. It saddens me that the Nehru-Indira legacy has reached a cul-de-sac,” he said.

Mr Fotedar adds: “Since Soniaji still is the unchallenged leader of the party, it should be her responsibility to reinvent the party. Blaming Rahul in a way is shifting the blame from the Congress president to someone who has yet to display his leadership skills.

“History is threatening to repeat itself. It is a matter of time before Soniaji’s and Rahul’s leadership is challenged from within the party. I will be observing closely how they stand up to this looming challenge, because Sonia is not Indira and Rahul is not Sanjay,” he said.

“Rahul needed more exposure and grinding to become ripe for the top job. Also, there was nobody to tutor or mentor Rahul. Sonia Gandhi is not Indira Gandhi and was herself dependent on so many people for what she should do,” he said.