New Delhi, Aug 2 Amid controversy between young and old guards during a meet of Congress Rajya Sabha MPs and chorus of bringing Rahul Gandhi back to the post of party president, senior leader Digvijaya Singh advised that Rahul Gandhi should be more active in Parliament.
"I agree. He is different and wants to do politics differently. We should allow him to do so but then we also would like him to be more active in Parliament and more accessible to people. As advised by Sharad Pawar he should go around India. 'Yatras' are important to connect," Singh said.
Digvijaya Singh was commenting on a video tweet posted by a party worker which said, "As Rahul Gandhi reaches out, we must speak out!"
Singh was underlining the former Congress president's inaccesibility which has been often talked by the party leaders and his absence in the Parliament on crucial issues.
But the advice of Singh has not gone down well as he got response from the youngsters in the party particularly MPs close to Rahul Gandhi. One of the MPs considered close to Rahul Gandhi said in anonymity that Rahul Gandhi has already taken yatras and has been often taking on the government on important issues.
The fresh controversy broke after the younger lot questioned the UPA-2 rule, however, the person concerned Rajya Sabha MP Rajiv Satav came down heavily on the seniors for the malicious attempts. "The malicious attempt to draw Dr Manmohan Singh into this exchange is reprehensible. To say my observations cast a shadow over Dr Singh's leadership of UPA-2 is a lie, a total misrepresentation of facts. I hold Dr Singh in high esteem. He is above reproach," he said.
It is said that Rajya Sabha members close to Rahul Gandhi cornered the seniors about decimation of the party in two consecutive elections, a charge countered by veterans who were ministers in the UPA regime.
The party on Sunday tried to intervene and asked the leaders to stop this on Social media.
Congress communication department chief Randeep Surjewala responding to a question during a press conference on Sunday, said, "I will advise friends who are playing Twitter Twitter to stop making comments on social media. We have internal democracy and we are not forcing anybody to retire, so keep your views for appropriate party forums."
In this time of crisis senior leaders who have worked in the government and organisation should stand shoulder to shoulder with Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.
"The responsibility of the senior leaders is to guide the youngsters and promote them and also make way for them," said Surjewala.
( With inputs from IANS )