Selja says Sonia-Rahul sole ray of hope for Congress workers, people of country

With some Congress leaders calling for a change in leadership and an organisational overhaul, the party's Haryana unit chief Kumari Selja on Sunday said Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are the "only and sole ray of hope" for Congress workers as well as the people of the country.

"Some people of the Congress, who enjoyed fruits of power and whose status is because of the party, are today raising questions about our leadership," she said targeting the 20-odd leaders who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking collective leadership and a revamp of major bodies.

"Today, the country needs the bright leadership of Sonia and Rahul. The leadership of both is the only and sole ray of hope for the countrymen and innumerable Congress workers throughout India. Today the hopes of the poor, labourers, farmers, dalits and youth of the country are focussed on this leadership," Selja, a former Union minister, wrote in a letter to Sonia Gandhi.

Meanwhile, five Territorial Committee presidents of the Congress wrote to all Congress Working Committee (CWC) members, batting for Rahul Gandhi taking over as the party president again.

The signatories are Pradeep Chhabra (Territorial Congress Committee president of Chandigarh), Ketan D Patel (Daman and Diu), Kuldeep Sharma (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), Hamdullah Sayeed (Lakshadweep), and Mahesh Sharma (Dadra and Nagar Haveli).

They said, "...this is the worst time in India we are facing under the present government and in order to have a strong opposition to combat these inadequacies and inefficient policies of the present government, we need to have in the first place a full-fledged leader of our Congress party. And, therefore, it is high time that we elect our president by promoting our ex-President Rahul Gandhi ji.... He can animate both the young and senior leaders, unite their energies, direct their vigour and inventiveness."

"It is our earnest and humble request that Shri Rahulji may be unanimously promoted/re-elected as the President of our Congress party during the forthcoming CWC meeting as any further delay may cause incalculable harm to the progress of our Congress party," they wrote.

The CWC will meet on Monday.

In a video message, Selja said, "At a time, when we are facing a challenge and when the BJP is trying to weaken our democracy, the need is to further strengthen the hands of our leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi so that they can continue to play their role in taking this country forward."

"Those people, those forces which are trying to weaken the Congress, I believe there are some elements within Congress who are hand-in-glove with BJP and part of their conspiracy," she said.