Digvijay calls for larger role for Rahul

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Monday urged Rahul Gandhi to “play a larger role” in the party instead of “confining himself” to its students’ and youth wings.

Singh’s remarks came on the heels of law minister Salman Khurshid's comments that the party had only seen “cameos” of Gandhi’s thoughts and ideas.

Singh said he, like Khurshid, was just “reflecting the views of the Congress worker” and had no doubt that Gandhi would assume a more proactive role in September, after Presidential and Vice-Presidential polls.

Praising the democratisation process Gandhi initiated in the Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the students’ wing of the Congress, as “unprecedented”, Singh told reporters it was time Gandhi assumed “a larger role”.

Singh, however, was unwilling to specify what that larger role should be, but indicated that it would not be that of the Congress president’s post, as “Sonia Gandhi will be leading the party into 2014 general elections”.

Dismissing observations that the “Rahul factor” did not work in any of the recent assembly elections including Uttar Pradesh’s, Singh said: “There’s no such thing as Rahul factor.” He insisted these views were his own and not of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). Recently, the AICC had ticked off Singh when he made comments on UPA ally Trinamool Congress, stating he was not the party’s official spokesperson.

September is seen as an opportune time for Gandhi to assume a larger canvas for himself, given that the turbulence of the crucial Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections would be over. According to party sources, Gandhi could become the second prominent figure within the party after the Congress President. However, speculation is rife whether he would join the government as a Cabinet reshuffle may take place in August-September. According to Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari: “From 2004 to 2012, party leaders have been talking about this that Rahul Gandhi should play a greater role. But that’s a decision he has to take.”