New Delhi [India], January 25 : BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla said on Sunday that former Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad's remarks against the party leadership showed that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is an "insecure leader".
"Shakeel Ahmed, who was also a minister, made many revelations. He explained how Rahul Gandhi is an insecure leader. How Rahul Gandhi wants a strong Congress but doesn't want strong Congressmen, and how the Congress party, while proclaiming to the whole world that it is democratic and adheres to the constitution, neither follows the constitution nor practices democracy within the party... He even stated that Rahul Gandhi has no regard for the constitution, and he raised the SIR issue, but it lacked any resonance or truth on the ground.
The BJP leader further added, "One thing is clear: Rahul Gandhi plays the biggest role in destroying the Congress, and this is not just Shakeel Ahmed's opinion but the sentiment echoed by every Congress leader..."
The controversy was triggered after Shakeel Ahmad, who recently parted ways with the Congress, launched a sharp attack on Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of sidelining senior leaders and undermining internal democracy within the party.
"There is no internal democracy in the Congress party. In the Congress party, whatever Rahul Gandhi says is final," Ahmad alleged while speaking with ANI.
Claiming that Gandhi was uncomfortable working with veteran leaders, Ahmad said, "There are many leaders in Congress who have been politicians long before Rahul Gandhi became one. The day Rahul Gandhi ji won his first election, I won my fifth election. I believe he is uncomfortable sitting with those who don't think of him as their boss."
He further alleged that Gandhi harboured a sense of superiority due to his Nehru-Gandhi lineage and was attempting to reshape the party by promoting younger leaders over the established leadership.
"Rahul Gandhi has kept the Youth Congress and NSUI together as he wants to throw the senior established leaders out of the Congress party and replace them with leaders of the Youth Congress and those who speak well of Rahul Gandhi," Ahmad claimed.