New Delhi, March 5: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Monday continued his feedback sessions with MPs from Tamil Nadu and Delhi as part of his efforts to strengthen the party for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
According to party sources, the Tamil Nadu MPs pointed to the vote coming up in the United Nations on the issue of human rights violations in Sri Lanka, an issue which is politically sensitive in the state.
The MPs also discussed ways to strengthen the party in the state where it was partner of the DMK, which lost to AIADMK in 2011 assembly polls.
The Congress has 12 MPs in the state which sends 39 MPs to the Lok Sabha.
The Delhi MPs briefed Gandhi about the state of affairs in the national capital and discussed the reasons behind the party's rout in the municipal elections last year, despite it winning all the seven Lok Sabha seats in 2009.
The sources said Gandhi would continue his interactions with leaders of other states in the coming days.
The issue of Rahul's marriage also came up in his chat
with MPs.
“If I get married and have children, I will be status quoist and will like my children to take my place,” he told a former woman MP who shot the question.
Rahul said the ‘high command' culture started in the 70s when “my grandmother was under severe assault...I knew her and if I would have been in her place, I would have also done likewise”.
Gandhi, who has often spoken of the ills facing the organisation, said that top leaders in several parties who are in decision-making authority come from the Rajya Sabha.
He gave ample signals that he wanted to change the organisation drastically from top to bottom and his ideal was Mahatma Gandhi and he believed in the “Nishkam Karma” of the Gita.
Calling the Mahatma “my guru”, he said Gandhiji could inspire people as also the rank and file of Congress as they knew that he was not one who is hankering after power.
Gandhi said he could take a holistic view of the scenario as regards party politics because “I am a parachute”, implying he owed his leadership to the membership of the first family in Congress.
The Congress Vice President regretted that all political parties have been designed in a manner that prevents the youth from getting key positions at a time when they are seeking a greater say in political affairs.
Stressing that he wanted to change the picture in this regard, he suggested that this was necessary to avoid an “explosion”.
“At one point, the pressure from the youth will be such that there will be an explosion,” he said.
