All power in PMO, Sushma, other ministers powerless: Rahul

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged that there was concentration of power in the PMO in the Narendra Modi government and even senior ministers like Sushma Swaraj do not have power.

Answering queries after his speech at the valedictory session of the 112th annual session of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he also said that there would be more young faces in a Congress government in the future but there was value to experience also.

Gandhi, who attacked Modi over concentration of power, was asked if there was concentration of power during the UPA government at 10 Janpath, the residence of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, but rejected the suggestion.

"That is a misunderstanding. It was not in 10 Janpath. And also the concentration of power in PMO was nowhere near the concentration of power in the PMO today.

"We speak to ministers in the BJP government. Even ministers like Sushma Swarajji and others don't have power in this government. Only the Prime Minister has power in the government.. completely different from the way Congress ran the government," Gandhi said.

He also admitted that the UPA-II government had shortcomings during the end of its term.

"I am admitting athat there were shortcomings in our government towards its closing days. I would say that a new government of Congress would be a much more decentralised government. It would be a government that distributes power much more than even the last government."

About the need for younger faces in the government, Gandhi said that the UPA governments had more young faces than the present government, but he thinks "we should have more younger faces than we did. I am sure any Congress government in the future will be a much younger government".

"There is also value to experience," he said, referring to his interactions with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former President Pranab Mukherjee and former Home Minister P. Chidambaram.

"Even though we will have a large majority of people who are younger, we will also take support of our traditional wisdom which is there," he said.

--IANS

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