- Sharmistha Mukherjee criticised Rahul Gandhi for inconsistent political engagement since 2014
- She highlighted Congress's continuous election losses under Rahul Gandhi's leadership since 2014
- Mukherjee stressed politics requires full-time commitment, not sporadic appearances
Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of former President Pranab Mukherjee, has criticised senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for pulling out a "disappearing act" after staying active for a few days on the ground level, emphasising that politics should be viewed as a "full-time job".
Speaking exclusively to IANS, Mukherjee pointed out that since 2014, around the time Rahul began to emerge as the face of Congress, the party has consistently lost elections.
Talking about the prospects of Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Mukherjee said, "I won't make any speculation. In the election of 2024, Congress won 99 seats. He (Rahul Gandhi) did the Bharat Jodo Yatra, and it got a good result."
"But unfortunately, Rahul Gandhi does some events and then disappears. Where was he during the first anniversary of Bharat Jodo Yatra? Politics is a 24-hour, 365-day job. You come and then go out after 2 days. You do some rallies, meet some people and then you go out. So, according to me, politics is not like this," she said.
"There are state elections too. One can't just win elections by forming alliances. Congress needs to strengthen the party. Even when I worked in Congress, it was just focused on how to win by forming alliances, not by strengthening the organisation. They don't have the encouragement to win on their own strength," she added.
Mukherjee said that the lack of focus on the organisational strength of Congress and repeated election defeats reflect a "failure" on the part of Rahul Gandhi because, according to her, he has not been able to secure a decisive mandate for the party despite being its face.
"Rahul Gandhi has been the face of Congress since 2014. Since 2014, Congress has been losing elections one after another... PM Narendra Modi is a mass leader. His popularity can be seen from his mandate. Rahul Gandhi is not able to bring his mandate to Congress. This is a failure of Rahul Gandhi," she told IANS.
Mukherjee, however, refrained from answering the question on drawing a comparison between Rahul Gandhi and his sister and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
"I do not have any opinion on this. When I was in Congress, I was a junior. My interaction with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi was very limited. Whatever I am saying about Congress, I say as an observer. But I don't want to compare Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. Because my interaction with either of them was limited," she told IANS.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
