Sonia should retain Congress presidentship: Amarinder

Sonia Gandhi should "retain" Congress Presidentship and a generation change cannot be done "with a knife", senior party leader Amarinder Singh said today, amid conflicting voices in the Congress on the issue of Rahul Gandhi's succession.
At the same time Singh rejected criticism of Rahul Gandhi's sudden "leave" and insisted the Congress Vice President is "not a write off" and that he will be at the top "someday".
"As a Vice President, he should work closely with Congress President. And the Congress President should retain her position because she is the person who every Congressman in the country will follow today," Singh said.

He also said that as far as bringing about generational change is concerned, "you cannot do it with a knife."
"You just can't say old ones out and new ones in. It has to be a gradual transition and that someday you will find Rahul there at the top," Singh, who is the Deputy Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha and a former Chief Minister of Punjab, said.
Singh also said that "old generation" leaders are there in other parties like Sharad Yadav of JD(U) and Sitaram Yechury in CPI(M).

"I do not think that they would have gone along with Rahul," Singh said, referring to the protest march of over a dozen parties on the land bill to Rashtrapati Bhavan, which was led by Sonia Gandhi last month.

"But that does mean that Rahul is a write off. He is very open. He speaks openly," Singh said.
Rahul Gandhi may have some plans and a roadmap with which he wants to proceed, he said rejecting criticism of the leader's two-month absence.
He said that he has seen Rahul from childhood and he is "very open".
Talk in party cirlces is that the issue of next Congress president will gain momentum once Rahul returns from his sabbatical in the next few days.