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Khurana remarks on Sonia in bad taste: Ahmed Patel

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI DEC. 11. The senior Congress leader in charge of the party's Delhi affairs, Ahmed Patel, today reprimanded the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party chief, Madan Lal Khurana, for suggesting that the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi's position had weakened after the recent Assembly polls. "Mr. Khurana has been shown the door by the people who have endorsed the policies of the Congress and its leader. He has no moral right to talk about such things after having received a severe drubbing at the hands of the electorate,'' Mr. Patel remarked.

Taking a strong view of Mr. Khurana's statement, Mr. Patel said the entire Congress party was solidly behind the party president and rubbished all talk that Ms. Gandhi had gone weak. The ruling Congress scored a landslide victory in the Delhi polls under the leadership of Ms. Gandhi. "It was the communal agenda of the BJP in the three States that misled the people and the party had nothing to do with development, peace and harmony,'' Mr. Patel said, adding that Mr. Khurana's remarks were in the bad taste and it reflected his frustration of not being able to dislodge the Congress Government in Delhi. "Mr. Khurana should learn to respect the mandate of the people who have overwhelmingly voted for the Congress. He should worry about his party and his own future rather than worrying about the Congress and its leadership which is in strong and safe hands.''

Mr. Patel said before commenting on the events in the Congress and about the election of its leader, Mr. Khurana should first set his own house in order. "Instead of worrying about the election of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, the BJP leader should worry about holding the meeting of the BJP Legislature Party. It is sad that Mr. Khurana and his party have still not been able to elect a leader of the Legislature Group and also a Leader of the Opposition and he has the audacity to talk about the events within the Congress,'' he said, adding that the people of Delhi gave a very clear verdict and this would be repeated in the Lok Sabha polls, irrespective of the time when they are held.

Mr. Patel said there was no delay in the election of the CLP leader. The party was assessing the outcome of the Assembly results in the five States and only after that, it had set in motion the process for election of the CLP leader in Delhi. However, the newly elected MLAs felt that the matter should be left to the Congress president. Now the party was in the process of finalising the Delhi Cabinet and discussions were in the last stage. The Chief Minister and the entire Cabinet will take oath of office together after a formal approval of the new Council of Ministers by the party president and fulfilling of other legal formalities involved in this process. The Congress party has only followed the democratic process and nobody can find fault with it as it is an old party tradition followed in all the States, he added.

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