HYDERABAD: Taking strong exception to remarks made by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao said that only the Gandhi and Nehru family are capable of steering the Congress out of the current situation.
Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad on Saturday, he condemned his party colleague’s remarks. "After enjoying top level posts for over 40 years, Azad has been making allegations against the first family," Rao said. Azad is among 23 Congress leaders who wrote to Sonia Gandhi seeking an "active, visible and full-time party leader".
The letter said that Congress would continue to sit in the Opposition for the next 50 years if elections to the Congress Working Committee were not held. Hanumantha Rao alleged that Azad did not let him become the CM of Andhra Pradesh, after the regime of the then Chief Minister N Janardhan Reddy in the year 1992. He said that Azad, who was just a ground-level worker, became the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir only because of the generosity of senior Congress leaders.
Rao wondered how Azad could write a letter to the party while holding the position of Floor Leader.
By the grace of Indira Gandhi, he was given several positions and after that Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar helped Azad reach new heights, said Rao.