25th March 2009
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi while addressing the media said "U.P. and Bihar used to be the heart of where our strength used to come and in U.P and Bihar we have declined considerably.
It might seem surprising to lot of you but I think the people of U.P are coming to the conclusion that the options they have tried have not worked and in near future there is going to be space for a new type of politics in U.P and the Congress Party is very well positioned to deliver that.
The question is one of implementation, I don't think that the question is one of political space.
A state like U.P cannot be run the way it has been run and had been run.
U.P is a very large part of India, and U.P is unfortunately fallen behind so I think there is a need for a new type of politics in U.P from an Indian prospective not just U.P perspective."
From the Bihar perspective Rahul Gandhi said, we have a very long & successful relationship with Mr. Yadav. However, I think fighting alone in Bihar will give us a bit of space to build ourselves there, in some ways it will help us organizationally. Did Lalu and Paswan leave us, or did we leave them? From our perspective there's a question of fairness. Where we feel that we have an alliance which is in mutual interest of both parties, that's an alliance we would work with. If we feel the alliance is detrimental to the Congress Party, we won't work with. Having an alliance is tactical consideration.There are places where an Alliance is necessary and beneficial there are places e.g. in U.P. it didn't work because of the two sides couldn't meet. Their perception and our perception in terms of where the line met was different, So it didn't workout. I think alliances are state by state thing. Having an alliance is tactical consideration.There are places where an Alliance is necessary and beneficial there are places e.g. in U.P. it didn't work because of the two sides couldn't meet. Their perception and our perception in terms of where the line met was different, So it didn't workout. I think alliances are state by state thing.
On a possible post poll alliance with AIADMK, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi said, it would be better if you ask this question to the Congress President, " I am the wrong person to ask this question" was his remark.
On the question of PM being called a weak leader by the opposition Rahul Gandhi said "If Mr. Manmohan Singh is a weak Prime minister how has he kept his country growing faster than it has ever grown.
He has been able to put maximum amount of pressure on our neighbours on the Mumbai issue, he has been able to sign a strategic deal that was not signed during the previous govt. so he has done a lot. I consider him to be one of the top leaders we have in this country, a first class Gentleman, Honorable Gentleman and I can tell you there were times when he showed tremendous Grit and Determination, During the US Nuclear Deal Prime minister showed tremendous Grit, Determination and Toughness.He didn't buckle in-front of terrorists, he did'nt took them to Kandhar. So the PM has achieved a lot for this country. As a young leader of the Congress party he has my full support."
Mr. Advani is also a senior leader, it's not really my place to make statements about a senior leader. I don't like pronouncing judgement on senior people was his reply on a question concerning Mr. Advani.
When asked when is he going to come centrestage and lead the country as Prime Minister he said "The Press loves raising this issue.
I'm personally interested in making sure that the doors to politics are open to youngsters. I am doing what I can to ease youngsters into politics, I actually enjoy this work and find it quite gratifying. For example in Punjab we did our organizational election and we have few youngsters who are fighting the LokSabha Election, and they are youngsters with I lot of potential, and that's the work I intend to do. I think how does one, using an organization like the Youth Congress and the NSUI change the nature of politics, that's what I am interested in and we do certain things that can fundamentally alter the way politics has taken place in this country. I'm interested in that type of area, democratic election and an open election and an open membership system are attempts in doing that." On Youngsters being given priority in tickets Congress General Secretary said "Earlier there were some discussions about 30% seats for youngsters. What I actually said in that meeting was that youngsters should be promoted in the party but it's very difficult to promote youngsters straight to the LokSabha Elections. First you fight a local Election, then you fight MLA election then you fight a LokSabha election, there are exceptional cases where youngsters can become a Lok Sabha Member. But the more Youngsters fight local bodies and MLA Election, the Better. First of all the idea that senior leaders are dominating, so no youngsters can come up is a wrong idea. Lots of senior leaders promote lot of youngsters. From Youth Congress perspective what we are trying to do is that the organization has its own voice." Congress in itself is a party of many ideas. Some amount of groupism, some amount of discussion is always positive. When the discussion becomes counterproductive it should be questioned. Congress Party from very beginning has been a discussion forum was his reply to internal bickerings in the party . On Party getting exact number of seats, Rahul gandhi said," If I had answer to those type of questions. my life would have been more easier. Most of the Press had sort of decided that we are going to get crashed in the last Elections and we won." Replying to a question on Sri Lanka he said, "Our Government has trying it's best to help the situation. We have been putting pressure as much as we can.. Our government is trying to do that. The LTTE is a terrorist group. LTTE had killed my father. So I am particularly not fond of the LTTE myself."
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