Use of dead leader’s image shows leadership crisis in Congress: Dulu Ahmed

GUWAHATI: Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) leader Dulu Ahmed said the Congress was still using the face of former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, who has passed away last year, because it has gone short of leaders to campaign for the party ahead of the assembly elections in Assam.

“Congress is using the portrait of a deceased leader. It clearly states that the Congress does not have any leader or any star campaigner,” Ahmed told InsideNE during an exclusive interview.

“I am not criticising Tarun Gogoi. I revere him a lot. But, it’s a shame that the Congress is campaigning using the portrait of a deceased leader,” the former Congress man said referring to the Congress campaign of Axom Bachao Ahok.

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He also took a dig at Congress state unit president Ripun Bora saying that the party was going to be devastated under his leadership. “Whatever workers the Congress has today will be halved a day after the party decides its list of candidates. And, within three hours of announcement of results of the assembly polls, Ripun Bora will resign owning moral responsibility for the party’s debacle. The party will be completely wiped out. He’ll shirk responsibility by tendering his resignation and Rahul Gandhi will be hardly bothered.”

The Congress had suspended Ahmed in 2019 before he joined the newly-floated All Assam Students’ Union-backed AJP few months ago.

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He held Rahul Gandhi responsible for the plight of Congress today saying: “Buying and selling of leaders is a tradition in politics. I am not holding Ripun Bora, Pradyut Bordoloi or the state leadership responsible for the party’s devastation in the Assam. It’s Rahul Gandhi who runs the party on computer. It’s no longer a time when people will vote for the hand blindly. The BJP leaders have made deep inroads among the people. The only party that the BJP regards as its opponent in the present context is the AJP.”

“Now, somebody will say Dulu Ahmed is not big enough a leader to criticise Rahul Gandhi. But, the way he is running the party is not proper. It’s stated to be a 150-year-old party. So, its functioning should also be like that. It’s his lack of accessibility for a leader of Jyotiraditya Scindhia’s stature that the party’s government collapsed in Madhya Pradesh. Similarly, Sachin Pilot has been reduced to no one,” Ahmed added.