BJP’s Lok Sabha member Anurag Thakur claims that the Gujarat poll verdict will trigger an exodus of senior Congress leaders miffed with the leadership of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
Thakur also said the BJP’s slogan of “Congress mukt Bharat” could well turn into a reality before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP is locked in a direct contest with the Congreses in Himachal Pradesh, which went to polls on Thursday, and in poll-bound Gujarat.
“Senior Congress leaders are feeling suffocated in the party. Whatever talent pool the Congress is left with may deplete after the Gujarat verdict on December 18. They feel suffocated because of the culture of sycophancy in their party,” Thakur told The New Indian Express. Amidst speculation that Rahul will soon become Congress president, Thakur said there would not be a change in fortune for the party even after his elevation.
“The Congress has no faith in democracy. There is no system of feedback in the Congress. If the Congress has to revive, the party will need to embrace democracy,” Thakur added. The BJP leader stated that the Congress will need to swallow the bitter pill of internal democracy, which may be painful for the first five years, but afterwards the party will recover. He, however, stated that the Congress would never adopt internal democracy.
Thakur, who is the son of the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal in Himachal Pradesh, noted that the Congress lacks the capacity to encourage new talent. “The Congress could not project a new face in Himachal Pradesh, but stuck with Virbhadra Singh,” he said.
