'Rootless wonders' in party responsible for Congress rout: Kishore Chandra Deo

NEW DELHI: Lashing out at "rootless wonders and spineless creepers" for his party's plight, senior Congress leader Kishore Chandra Deo today said the Congress would not have come to such a pass if Rahul Gandhi had ensured implementation of half the promises made after he became Vice President.

Deo, an outgoing Union minister who lost in the recent Lok Sabha polls after being elected to the House for five terms, urged the party President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul to do introspection on how to "emancipate the Grand Old Party from the clutches of rootless wonders and spineless creepers, who have held sway for more than two decades and have brought the party to such a pass".

In an interview to PTI, Deo recalled that Rahul had said much at Jaipur after becoming party Vice President on transformation of the organisation. "If 50 per cent of it was decided by the party, this situation would not have arisen".

Alleging that there was a "stranglehold" of one to two dozen people on the party and its leadership, Deo made a strong pitch for Rahul as also Priyanka Gandhi to work to "free the Congress from these chains and shackles."

The Tribal Affairs Minister said that there was "crisis of credibility" as regards the Congress-led coalition in the wake of price rise of essential commodities and corruption and scams.

The party and the government failed to effectively counter the propaganda on the issues through their words and deeds, he said.

Making a serious charge on the state of party affairs in Seemandhra, he alleged that the "Congress was politically mortgaged and sold out to Jagan, YSR Congress and its fifth column."