Prashant Kishor's suggestion to Rahul Gandhi: 'Consider stepping back if…'

Prashant Kishor recalled Sonia Gandhi's decision to keep away from politics following Rajiv Gandhi's assassination and let P V Narasimha Rao take charge in 1991

Political strategist Prashant Kishor has suggested to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi that he should consider stepping back if the grand old party does not get the desired results in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. 

Prashant Kishor said Rahul Gandhi needs someone who can execute what he thinks is right, which is not possible.

“Rahul Gandhi, for all practical purposes, is running his party and has been unable to either step aside or let somebody else steer the Congress despite his inability to deliver in the last 10 years,” the Jan Suraj founder told PTI in an interview on Sunday.

"This according to me is also anti-democratic,"he added.

"When you are doing the same work for the last 10 years without any success, then there is no harm in taking a break... You should allow someone else to do it for five years. Your mother did it," Kishor said, recalling Sonia Gandhi's decision to keep away from politics following her husband Rajiv Gandhi's assassination and let P V Narasimha Rao take charge in 1991.

A key attribute of good leaders the world over is that they know what they lack and actively look to fill those gaps, Kishor, who in 2022 declined the Congress offer to join the party, said.

"But it seems to Rahul Gandhi that he knows everything. Nobody can help you if you do not recognise the need for help. He believes he needs someone who can execute what he thinks is right. It is not possible," he said.

Citing Gandhi's decision to resign as the Congress president following the party's drubbing in the 2019 general election, Kishor said the Wayanad MP had then written that he would step back and let somebody else do the job. But, in effect, he has been doing contrary to what he had written, he added.

"Many Congress leaders will admit privately that they cannot take any decision in the party, even about a single seat or seat sharing with alliance partners "unless they get the approval from xyz," he said, referring to their need to defer to Rahul Gandhi.

(With PTI inputs)