Eyebrows raised in Congress as Rahul flags Rafale again

New Delhi: Eyebrows are being raised in the Congress as former President Rahul Gandhi yet again raised the Rafale issue during a rally in Maharashtra this week.

Sources said that there was serious discontent within the senior leadership of the Congress who felt that the former Congress President was flogging a dead horse.

The Rafale plank used by Mr Gandhi during the Lok Sabha elections had failed miserably bringing the party a mere 52 seats.

Earlier this week, while kicking off the Maharashtra campaign, Mr Gandhi questioned the ‘purpose’ of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s “unprecedented” visit to France to receive the first Rafale fighter jet, saying BJP leaders are bearing “guilt” in their minds for making “mistakes” in the controversial deal.

At stock-taking meetings following the disastrous performance of the Party in the Lok Sabha polls, senior leaders had blamed Mr Gandhi for attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly on corruption while Mr Gandhi on his part had maintained that there was lack of ground support from the senior leadership in carrying the message forward to the voters on these very issues.  The Congress has been in the throes of a bitter power struggle post the general elections. While Mr Gandhi resigned taking responsibility for the party’s defeat, many leaders have come out questioning the wiseness of attacking PM Modi on all counts.

Sources said that recently, while charting out the party’s strategy for upcoming polls in Haryana and Maharashtra, senior leaders, led by Congress President Sonia Gandhi took a decision to focus only on local issues and not attack PM Modi.

However, the Gandhis, including Rahul and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have been openly attacking the PM.

Incidentally, as far as the first family of the Congress is concerned, Mr Gandhi seems to be the chief campaigner with his mother Sonia Gandhi scheduled to address only one rally in Haryana tomorrow.