Congress should do 'ruthless introspection': Party leaders

NEW DELHI: Congress should do "ruthless introspection" and only those having experience of field work should be given leadership roles, party leaders today said in a veiled attack on 'Team Rahul' in wake of its crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.

Congress leader Milind Deora, who had yesterday said that Rahul Gandhi's advisers did not have their "ears to the ground" and those with "no electoral experience" were "calling the shots", today stuck to his guns, saying his comments are borne out of deep loyalty to the party and pain due to its performance in the polls.

"My comments are out of emotions of deep loyalty to the party, pain of our performance & a sincere desire to see us bounce back. Nothing more," Deora said on Twitter.

In another tweet, he said, "Field party work & electoral battles are key to comprehend ground realities. This should form the basis for leadership posts in Congress."

His remarks are significant as there are murumurs in the party that a number of people having no electoral experience and novices in politics were given key roles in shaping up the decisions of the leadership on issues like campaigning and alliances.

AICC Secretary Priya Dutt, who met Congress President Sonia Gandhi today, also talked of a "disconnect" of the party leaders with the people.

Deora lost from South Mumbai to Shiv Sena's Arvind Sawant while Dutt lost to BJP's Poonam Mahajan.

Senior party leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi appeared to be in agreement with the views expressed by Deora and hoped that an "honest and ruthless introspection" is carried out to rectify the problems.