On ‘haven’t met Rahul Gandhi in 4 yrs’ remark, G-23 leader says ‘not necessary…’
Prithviraj Chavan said that he occasionally meets former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as he is “always hospitable and ready to talk”. He added that he has met Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi as well whenever he sought time.
Congress leader and member of rebel G-23 group Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday issued a clarification on his earlier “have not met Rahul Gandhi in the last four years” remark. He said that it is not necessary to meet the former Congress president “every time”, news agency ANI reported.
“He had resigned from his post in the organisation…He's opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his own way and going across the nation and abroad. Not necessary to meet him every time,” Chavan was quoted as saying.
The Congress G-23 leader further stated that there was Covid-19 for two years due to which “nobody met anyone”. Chavan said that even before resigning as the president of the grand old party, Rahul used to tell party leaders to meet the general secretary for organisation-related work.
The former Maharashtra chief minister recently said that in an interview to the Times of India podcast that he has been unable to meet Rahul in the last four years. He also said that there was no “chintan” (introspection) at the recent Congress conclave in Udaipur.
While talking about not being able to meet Gandhi in the last four years, Chavan said that he occasionally meets former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh as he is “always hospitable and ready to talk”. He added that he has also met Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi whenever he sought time.
“There is a complaint that the party leadership is not as accessible as it should be,” Chavan said during the interview.
The ‘G-23’ is a group of dissident Congress leaders, who is pressing for organisational reforms in the grand old party that has suffered back-to-back electoral defeats in the past few years.
