Rahul Gandhi not being allowed to function independently: Digvijay
Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Feb, 2015 11:54 AM
Congress party vice president Rahul Gandhi "feels very strongly" that he is not being allowed to function independently by "vested interests" in the party, said Congress party general secretary Digvijay Singh Wednesday.
In an interview with Headlines Today, Digvijay Singh said Rahul Gandhi was "not running away" and he is "made of sterner stuff".
Digvijay Singh said that Gandhi had held consultations on the future roadmap of the Congress before going on leave. He acknowledged that he was surprised when he learnt about the latter's leave, adding he came to know about it from journalists.
Asked if Gandhi was frustrated at not being allowed to function freely within the party, Digvijay Singh said: "I'm not sure of that, only he can answer. One thing I know that he feels very strongly that he is not being allowed to function independently."
When asked who was stopping him Singh said "the party itself", adding: "Vested interests in the party."
He discounted any difference between party chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, saying they had a good bonding but they were different in their thinking due to the age gap, a feature which exists in all families.
Digvijay Singh also mentioned Congress workers in Delhi were more disillusioned with Rahul Gandhi than their colleagues from other units in the country.
"Time has come for him to aggressively come out on issues. He should be seen more. People want to know what Rahul Gandhi stands for. What is Rahul Gandhi's development strategy for the country," he added.
The 19-month-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was enveloped in its worst crisis Friday as two of its top leaders traded charges with senior leader Yogendra Yadav, who has been accused by more than one disgruntled colleague of taking the party down the drain though others tried to play down the rift.
Tension prevailed at the Golden Temple complex here Friday as 10 people, including a child, were injured at the Sikh shrine complex in a clash between task force volunteers of the SGPC and radical Sikh activists on the 30th anniversary of the army's Operation Bluestar.
With a senior education department officer in Punjab allegedly committing suicide, the opposition Congress Thursday demanded that a case of abetment to suicide be registered against the state education minister.
Observing that research in the higher education structure was a neglected domain, President Pranab Mukherjee Thursday called for transformative ideas to steer India's educational institutions from the "muddy waters of mediocrity".
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Maharashtra suffered a post-poll setback when two senior leaders - state convenor Anjali Damania and state secretary Preeti Sharma-Menon - quit the party Thursday.
