Unlike the perception, I don’t run Congress, says Rahul Gandhi

MUMBAI: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday that his ideas of bringing in structural changes in his party had not been implemented yet and 2014 could see the beginning of some of those ideas getting launched.

Rahul spoke in detail on his party’s election strategy and plans for the future, during a chat with select journalists in Mumbai. Rahul said that some of the most crucial decisions in the party were being taken through consensus and as party VP; he alone was not calling the shots.

“Looking from the outside, you may think that I am the most powerful person in the Congress party and I decide everything. You may think that I order about people and get whatever I want done from them, but in fact, the situation is quite different.

I only keep taking advise from a lot of senior leaders in the party and follow consensus. I listen to everybody and all crucial decisions are taken only through consensus among the top leaders,” Rahul said.

“On decisions, such as alliances, I don’t impose my views. I listen to the Congress leaders based in the concerned state and then arrive at a conclusion. In West Bengal, I am told that Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress wants to make an alliance with the Congress but our leaders there don’t want an alliance so we have decided not to do it. In Maharashtra, majority of our leaders feel that we should stay in alliance with the NCP so we continue to stay in alliance with the NCP. Its all about what the majority wants,” Rahul added. Asked about why his ideas of empowering the downtrodden and women are not getting implemented at the village level anywhere in the country, Rahul said, “My ideas of bringing a vast structural change in the party have not been implemented at all yet. I think 2014 could see the beginning of some of these ideas getting launched. That will give the party a new boost.

I want to stress that we are not antibusiness as perceived by some people but we definitely believe that if India has to move forward it will happen only if we take the poor ahead. The poor count first for us. We want to take along everybody while the BJP has a model which benefits only a section of the society.”

“This is complex country and just one way or one formula cannot work in all parts of the country. The Congress has come with some new idea every 10 years and that has changed everything. After independence, green revolution, bank nationalisation, IT and telecom revolutions are the ideas that changed the country.