Cong doesn't believe inprojecting one leader: Satav

The Gujarat Congress will not project any one leader as the party's future face as it does not believe in running the show with one or two leaders like the BJP, state party in-charge Rajiv Satav has said.

But, he did not rule out fielding young leaders who emerged in the last few years, like Patidar quota agitation spearhead Hardik Patel, in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The party is ready to take on the BJP in Gujarat, Satav told PTI in an interview, adding that selection of candidates is underway and an announcement will be made soon.

"Our policy is not to project one leader and go with him. We believe in taking everybody together," he said, when asked if the Congress plans to make a leader like 25-year-old Hardik Patel the party's future face.

He said like the 2017 Gujarat Assembly election, the Congress will give a "big surprise" to the BJP in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha poll.

While the Congress failed to win any Lok Sabha seat in 2014, it bagged 77 out of the total 182 Assembly seats in the 2017 state polls, considerably improving its performance but missing the victory target by 15 seats.

Satav, the Lok Sabha member from Maharashtra, said Congress chief Rahul Gandhi believes in giving chance to young leaders. He has given opportunity to many young leaders like Priyanka Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia. "But, there are senior leaders whose experience and leadership matters."
Asked if the Congress was willing to give a chance to these leaders in the Lok Sabha polls, Satav said, "We will take along all those who believe in our ideology."
On charge that the Congress was creating caste and class divide for poll gains, he said, "When the BJP is losing and we are gaining, they will make such baseless allegations."