NCP: Rahul Gandhi was disaster, Sharad Pawar better pick

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), in its general secretaries’ report for 2012-2015, has attacked the Congress, claiming that the projection of Rahul Gandhi was responsible for the UPA’s disastrous defeat in last year’s Lok Sabha polls. The party is also of the view that if the Congress had “broad-mindedly” projected Sharad Pawar, the results would have been different. The party has also termed Mr Gandhi “inexperienced in political and administrative affairs”.

The NCP organised its sixth national convention in Patna before the Bihar Assembly elections to be held this year. The party, apart from electing its national president, also approved the general secretaries’ report for 2012-2015. The report clearly held the projection of Mr Gandhi responsible for the rout of the UPA in the general election. The 20-page report says the Congress has no leader to be projected as a PM candidate. Their efforts to project Rahul Gandhi, who had no political and administrative experience, did not inspire people, it said.

“If they had the broad-mindedness to project a leader like Sharad Pawar, who had great acceptance among the people throughout the country for his political expediency and administrative experience, the result would have been different,” said the report.

It says the Congress, which had 206 seats in the last Parliament, could win only 44 seats. The NCP, which had eight seats, won six seats — four from Maharashtra and one each from Bihar and Lakshadweep. “It may be noted that NCP is the party that had the least casualties among all the partners of the UPA in the last general election,” it said.

Senior NCP leader Praful Patel said when one fights an election one has to offer a solution to the people, but in the last elections there was no solution presented from the UPA side.

Courtesy: The Asian Age