This Article is From Aug 05, 2014

Congress Leader Janardan Dwivedi Says Party Should Have Patience to Listen

Congress Leader Janardan Dwivedi Says Party Should Have Patience to Listen

Senior Congress Leader Janardan Dwivedi

New Delhi: Veteran Congressman Janardan Dwivedi, known to be a close aide of the party president, often chooses his words carefully. But his cryptic comments today has restarted an ongoing debate within the party: have the Gandhis become vulnerable to criticism after Congress' Lok Sabha rout?

Mr Dwivedi said, "A political organisation should not only make itself heard but should have the patience to listen." This is how he responded when asked to comment about another senior Congress leader Jagmeet Brar's comment that "Gandhi should take a break and make way for other leaders."

Mr Brar, a former member of the Congress Working Committee, the party's highest decision making body, has already been asked to explain his comments.

"I have not heard what Mr Dwivedi has said. I will have to check and revert to you," said Randeep Surjewala, Congress spokesperson, when asked to comment about Mr Dwivedi's remarks.

Mr Dwivedi's comments are being interpreted as yet another sign of friction between 'Congress old guard' and 'Team Rahul'.

But this is not the first time that Mr Dwivedi has encountered controversy. Just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, in an interview, Mr Dwivedi had flagged off the issue of the effectiveness of reservations based on caste and called for a debate within the party, on whether there was a need to continue with such a policy.

But within hours, the Congress disowned his statements and said "the issue of reservation was an article of faith" for the party and Mr Dwivedi retreated. But with the Congress party going through its worst phase in history, senior ideologues like him are raising questions of fundamental importance.
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