"Everybody is responsible": Karti Chidambram on Rahul Gandhi's responsibility for Congress defeats

New Delhi [India], February 15 (ANI): Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram on Sunday underscored the collective responsibility of Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, for the party's defeats.
However, he said that the average Congress cadre has a special relationship with the Nehru-Gandhi family, and backed Rahul Gandhi's leadership despite consecutive losses.
Speaking exclusively with ANI, he asserted that every political party, barring one or two, are run by families.
When asked about Rahul Gandhi's responsibility for defeats in elections, Karti Chidambaram said, "Everybody is irresponsible. Of course, the leadership is responsible. But the point is the average party cadre has a special connection with the Nehru-Gandhi family. And they want that family to be the centre of the leadership of the party."
Karti Chidambaram further cited examples of the Samajwadi Party, the National Conference, the Nationalist Congress Party, and others whose leadership has always remained family-centric.
"If you go to the national conference, it will be unthinkable for anybody outside the Abdullah family to be a leader. You go to the, say, Mufti breaks away from this, and what does he do? I mean, he's only succeeded by his daughter. Mamata Banerjee breaks away from the Congress and starts a new party. Who's her successor? Her nephew. Sharad Pawar breaks away from the party and forms a new party. Who is his successor? His daughter or his late nephew? You and your father also tried to break away at one point. My father was not the leader of the party," Karti Chidambaram said.
Karti Chidambaram also admitted that his and his father, P Chidambaram's, decision to leave the Congress was unsuccessful. Chidambaram formed the Tamil Maanila Congress in 2001, which eventually merged with Congress in 2004.
"We broke away unsuccessfully. We came back. Not many, everybody can run. Pranab Mukherjee did not run a successful political party. We came back to the Congress. Everybody doesn't succeed," he said.
He further said that many NDA alliance parties are also run by family, citing examples of Chandrababu Naidu's TDP and Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (RV).
"And look at the other parties, the parties in which the BJP has an alliance, they have an alliance with Chandrababu Naidu's party. Who do you think is going to succeed Chandrababu Naidu? It'll be his son in Tamil Nadu. What about Paswan's party? So what about the Shiv Sena too, when the BJP had an alliance with?" he said (ANI)