Congress says Poonawalla creating distractions at someone's behest

Congress Karnataka Chief Dinesh Gundu Rao on Saturday slammed party leader Shehzad Poonawalla for terming the process to elect party President "rigged" and said that he was asked by somebody to create distractions.

Speaking to ANI, Rao claimed that the entire party wants Rahul Gandhi to become the Congress President.

"Congress is only party which had polls for president. Even when Sonia Gandhi contested, Jitendra Prasad was opponent. Somebody is asking him (Shehzad Poonawalla) to do it to create distractions. Entire party wants Rahul Gandhi to become president, " he said.

Earlier this week, Maharashtra Congress Secretary Poonawalla said that the process to elect the party President was stacked in Rahul's favour just because he belongs to the Gandhi family.

"Raising an issue nobody in my party - the Congress will have guts to raise- my conscience will not allow me to stay quiet anymore on Dynasty/ sycophancy," he tweeted.

Poonawalla had also told the media earlier that he would want to contest the party President election if it was conducted in a genuine manner.

However, he has been receiving flak from his party members, including accusations of him not being a Congressman.

Responding to the same, he categorically stated that he was a "Congressman for life," and alleged that such comments were a result of the party fearing Rahul Gandhi's defeat, "even in a rigged election.