Priya Dutt says Rahul's advisors not to blame, 'disconnect' behind Congress poll debacle

Commenting on Congress leader Milind Deora's statement that the party vice president, Rahul Gandhi's, advisors did not have their 'ears to the ground', former MP Priya Dutt maintained that there was disconnect between the party and the people, and that there was a need to self introspect.

"I will not blame the advisors, because we should be open to advices from all the sides. We should take advice from political minded people to the common man. I think, there is disconnect between the party and the people at the grass root level. We need to check that and take corrective measures, said Priya.

"It is a large country and you need a lot of interaction with people. I think, nobody can actually have connect, which elected representatives had with ground level people. So, I think we need to bridge that gap and bring it right upto the leadership," she added.

She asserted that the Congress-led UPA Government has done a lot of work in the past ten years but have not been able to project it.

"We have not been able to cash upon it. So there have been a lot of faults," she added.

In an interview with The Indian Express, Milind Deora had said, "The question is whether the set of advisers had their ears to the ground... There were strong murmurs in the party that people who are calling the shots are people with no electoral experience... no stature, standing, respect and credibility in the party. They were in charge of important departments and held key positions."

Taking aim at Rahul, Deora further said, "The people who take the advice also have to bear responsibility. Those who gave advice and those who received the advice as also those who feel they can give better advice. So all have to bear responsibility.