‘Old guard’ must let go but Rahul, Priyanka not good alternatives: TOI poll on Congress crisis | India News

NEW DELHI: Even though senior Congress leaders have repeatedly said that they would like to see Rahul Gandhi heading the party, a TOI poll has revealed that the majority of the public feels that the Gandhi scion is not yet ready to head party affairs.
Out of the total respondents, 52% said that now is not the time to hand over the baton to Rahul Gandhi. Only 19% felt that Rahul was ready to take the lead.

A major reason for this lack of confidence is the perceived ‘non-availability’ of the former party president. A total of 64% of respondents said that Rahul has been “out of the country at crucial moments” while an additional 12% said that the young leader was busy with his ‘Bharat Yodo Yatra‘.

On several occasions, many Congress leaders have pointed towards Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as an alternative to her brother.
However, 41% of respondents in the TOI poll said that a bigger role for Priyanka would just add to the confusion over who leads the party, while another 30% felt that she was a reluctant politician, like her brother.

In regards to the Rajasthan Congress crisis, which saw MLAs loyal to chief minister Ashok Gehlot hand in their resignations, over half the poll respondents said that the legislators should have a say on who takes the top seat.
Around 20% said that the Congress high command has the right to choose the next CM, while a similar number of people felt that the leadership should get to pick only if they have a viable replacement. Only 3% said that there was no need for a change of guard in Rajasthan.

On the topic of larger leadership issues plaguing the Congress, around 44% said the crux of the problem was that the ‘old guard’ was refusing to give way to the younger generation of leaders.

An additional 38% said that high command was getting in the way of younger blood entering the Congress mainstream.