Bhopal: Former Union minister Aslam Sher Khan has offered to take the title of AICC president from Rahul Gandhi for a period of two years after Rahul expressed his wish for someone outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to assume the responsibility.
Speaking to the news agency ANI, Khan said that he wrote a letter in this regard when RaGa offered to step down from the post. “In the letter, I wrote that if Rahul wants to continue in the post, he could. If not, then I would like to assume the responsibility for two years,” he was quoted as saying.
Khan is the first leader to stake his claim for the post since RaGa expressed his desire to step down during a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in Delhi on May 25. It can be recalled that this occurred after the Congress’ poor performace in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. The CWC had unanimously rejected his offer and passed a new resolution which authorised RaGa to revamp the organisation.
Khan assured that the letter was not written for personal gains but because he believes that the Congress needs a makeover and that it needs to be realigned with the nationalist identity. “It is for these reasons that I am ready to assume the responsibilities while the party goes through tough times,” he said.
He also clarified that he did not blame RaGa for the party’s defeat as “he left no stone unturned but the narrative of the Congress simply failed to connect with the people and they again went with Narendra Modi.”
“There is no doubt that a change is needed and if there is someone who is a better candidate than me, let the role go to them,” he stated.
