If a new Congress has to be built, then Rahul Gandhi needs to be more decisive: Digvijaya Singh

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has called for a ‘new Congress’ with ‘a new charter, a new roadmap and a new style of campaigning. In addition, Singh has also asked Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to act more decisively.

Speaking at the Indian Express Idea Exchange event, Singh said, “A new Congress needs to be built, and there is no other person who can do it better than Rahul Gandhi. He needs to act. My complaint against Rahul Gandhi is that he is not acting decisively. I have told him several times; sometimes, he gets angry when I keep repeating the same thing.”

On the 2014 debacle

The general secretary of the All India Congress Committee also added that while a detailed report by AK Anthony had been submitted in February 2015, explaining the 2014 general election loss, nothing had been done to implement the learnings. “On the basis of that report, a new Congress was to be drafted, but that hasn’t happened,” Singh said, adding that only Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul would know when the report will be implemented.

Nothing wrong with leadership

Singh added that there was nothing wrong with the party leadership and the Nehru-Gandhi family was the greatest binding factor in the Congress. “The issue is not leadership, but of rejuvenating and redrafting the new Congress,” he said.

On the loss at Uttarakhand

Asked about the loss in Uttarakhand, despite the presence of a strong regional leader in Harish Rawat, Singh said he was “amazed” at how the chief minister lost from both assembly segments where people had previously voted strongly for the party.