After Jyotiraditya Scindia’s shocking move to resign from the Congress after 18 years and join the BJP, the Congress party in a damage control mode, has now asserted that no “brain drain” was happening in the party and said young leaders would be attended to and given responsible positions going forward.
Dismissing suggestions that there could be more leaders who may quit the party after Scindia, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said there comes a time in life when one has to choose an ideology over the allure of a post that one may get in an ideology which one may have no faith in.
“I do not think that there is any brain drain happening in the Congress party as Rahul Gandhi himself answered vis-a-vis Jyotiraditya Scindia yesterday,” Surjewala said at a party press conference.
“Even if one person leaves the Congress party, we are all deeply hurt. However, Jyotiraditya ji or any other person needs to think whether their core ideology is far more important than the temporary allure of a post and a position of power,” he said.
The Congress leader said the day people in the party start making a clear distinction between ideology and the lure of a post, then everything will fall in place.
Asked about a possible ‘brain drain’ in the party, Surjewala said, “The younger lot or the younger leaders whom you are referring to have more than adequate place in the party. They will be attended to and given responsible positions. Some of them have already been given so during Rajya Sabha elections.”
More and more people from across the spectrum of the party coming from grass roots will be accommodated in prominent leadership positions, he said.
“So, I do not agree with the perception or the question that there is going to be a brain drain,” Surjewala asserted.
The Congress has opted for young faces as candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls with the son of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda Deepender Hooda, Rajeev Satav, Shahzada Anwar, Kennedy Cornelius Khyriem and Phulo Devi Netam among the 13 names announced by the party.
