Personal gains overriding ideological aspirations: Congress on defectors

Party rejects insinuations that there was disconnect between leadership and grassroots workers

The Congress on Wednesday attributed the personal ambitions of leaders for the recent defections to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and termed them as “sad and regrettable”.
 
Maintaining that politics is about ideological commitment, it said the Congress's is a “pluralistic” vision of India as opposed to the BJP’s “theocratic” view.
 
“It is sad and regrettable that personal ambitions of leaders are overriding their ideological aspirations,” party spokesperson Manish Tewari said when asked to respond to the exit of former Delhi unit chief Arvinder Singh Lovely and that of former union minister SM Krishna in Karnataka.
 

He also rejected insinuations that there was "disconnect" between the party leadership and the grassroots workers, saying "there is no communication gap in the party".

 
"Ultimately politics is also about a certain ideological commitment, a certain belief in what your vision of the idea of India is. The Congress represents a pluralistic vision of this idea which is opposed to the theocratic view the BJP espouses," he asserted.
 
He said ideological commitments become "so transient" for some that all what matters to them is "personal aspiration" and termed the defections as "sad".
 
Politics is not about personal ambitions alone, Tewari said, adding when one is disappointed one's resolve is tested and one must hold ground then.