Congress Crisis: Salman Khurshid Slams Kapil Sibal, Backs Gandhis As Best Leadership Option

According to Khurshid, the common perception after talking to people within the party is that they would like Rahul Gandhi to take over as full-time party president.

Congress leader Salman Khurshid. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Wednesday took a jibe at his party colleague Kapil Sibal for questioning Gandhi family's leadership and asked when did Kapil Sibal fight an election for any position in the grand old party.

In response to Sibal's remarks that it was time for the Gandhis to step aside from the leadership role and give some other person a chance to run the old party, Khurshid told news agency PTI that Gandhi family is the integrating factor of the Congress and the best possible leadership option in this moment of crisis.

"When did Sibal fight an election to get into any position in the party, it was a bit sad to complain after receiving so much from the organisation," Khurshid said days after Sibal in an interview expressed that Gandhis should voluntarily move away because "a body nominated by them will never tell them that they should not continue to hold the reins of power".

According to Khurshid, the common perception after talking to people within the party is that they would like Rahul Gandhi to take over as full-time party president.

"We can all sincerely hope that the Congress' internal elections come in August and that in August he (Rahul Gandhi) will oblige and become president of the party again," the former Union Minister said.

"We have been accustomed to a somewhat comfortable life of being in power guaranteed as it were by members of the Gandhi family over generations and we are suddenly feeling upset that they can't keep us in power for now," he added.

"Leadership is in cuckoo land. I want a 'Sab ki Congress'. Some want a 'Ghar ki Congress'," Sibal said in an interview with Indian Express.

Hitting out at Sibal for the barbs against his own party, Khurshid said the crowds that had gathered in support of the Gandhi family on its own accord near the AICC headquarters when the Congress Working Committee (CWC) met on Sunday must also be considered part of an inclusive Congress.

"There was a free and frank discussion in the CWC. There were issues that people who belonged to G-23 raised and they were heard with all humility and seriousness and there was a friendly exchange of views. And then they participated in that decision (reposing full faith in Sonia Gandhi's leadership)," said Khurshid, who is also a member of the CWC.

The senior Congress leader also pointed out that people want Rahul Gandhi to be president but he wants to follow constitutional propriety.

Several Congress leaders have slammed Sibal for his remarks against the Gandhi family, with the party's Lok Sabha whip accusing him of speaking the language of the BJP and the RSS.

BJP stalwarts such as Pawan Khera, Ashok Gehlot, Manickam Tagore and other have lashed out at their colleague and said that Sibal should contest the election for the post of Congress president, instead of making public comments against the party leadership. 

(With inputs from PTI.)