Former law minister HR Bhardwaj joins 'bring Priyanka, save Congress' chorus

NEW DELHI: Congress member and former law minister and governor HR Bhardwaj on Friday joined the chorus of 'Bring Priyanka, Save Congress' by saying that Priyanka Gandhi alone could revive the party. Bhardwaj also took a dig at P Chidambaram's comment that Manmohan Singh ignored suggestions to cancel 2G licences by saying that the former finance minister had a reason to protect DMK.

Speaking to a TV channel, Bhardwaj said, "I request Congress leadership to give a more active role to Priyanka Gandhi. She is the one who can revive the party."

In pushing for Priyanka, Bhardwaj has joined party members such as K V Thomas who have openly asked for the charismatic Gandhi scion to be brought to the forefront in the party. He has also exposed the rift within the Congress over leadership issue where one section is still staunchly behind vice-president Rahul Gandhi who led the party to its worst Lok Sabha defeat in history.

Only last month, at an AICC meet, some 200 Congress workers demonstrated in support of giving Priyanka a larger role.

Bhardwaj also slammed Chidambaram for saying that former PM Manmohan Singh did not listen to his demand of cancelling 2G licences. "I don't think Chidambaram is saying the correct thing. It is absolutely to the contrary. Chidambaram drew his strength from the DMK in Tamil Nadu. So he supported the DMK in going through this exercise. Manmohan's Singh's honesty and integrity is internationally recognized. Chidambaram was no one in comparison to Manmohan Singh," he said. Chidambaram had recently said that Singh didn't listen to his demand of cancelling 2G licences.

There have been voices of dissent within the party questioning the high command for the decline of the Congress in the recent past. Even though many leaders have raised uncomfortable questions about the party leadership, there has been no action till now. Instead those who have questioned Rahul or Sonia Gandhi have been sidelined or show cause notices issued to them.

Responding to a question at a discussion during a book launch function recently, Chidambaram had said, "I think 2G could have been handled differently in the sense that the Prime Minister could have put his foot down and said I am sorry, I will not let you go forward with the first-come first-serve (FCFS) route."

On why the then government did not cancel the licences, Chidambaram said the decision was taken to wait for the court verdict. "These are the matters which do not come to the Cabinet. These are ideas which are discussed informally. I think ideas were suggested and considered. I always believed it was a pretty simple decision rather than suffer any judgment and then try to work out consequences," he said.