Fresh voice of discontent in the Congress came to the fore today with a senior leader warning of doom if the party failed to "restore the credibility of the leadership" in the wake of a string of debacles.
Party leader V Kishore Chandra Deo said the message from the Delhi election is clear--the emergence of AAP is a "negative vote" against Narendra Modi despite the massive campaign undertaken by him.
In an interview to PTI, Deo, who turned 69 today, expressed concern over the feeling among Congressmen that money has become a measure for everything within the party. "Leadership should find out whether this is true or not and make necessary changes."
The Delhi verdict, he said, showed that what the country needs is a party like Congress which is a Left of the centre democratic party. "The key word is with a credible leadership."
"Credibility of the party leadership should be restored in Congress. Otherwise people will find another alternative which the country badly needs today, because vacuum cannot exist in politics, vacuum cannot exist anywhere", said the former Union Cabinet Minister, without naming anyone.
He said people voting for AAP in Delhi is just an indication that they prefer a liberal democratic party with a tolerant outlook and a progressive thought as compared to a "communal party with extreme views."
"The Delhi results are indication of shape of things to come in our future politics. The sweep of AAP and just three seats to BJP showed hollowness of Modi's political hype", he noted.
Deo, who not long ago had lashed out at "rootless wonders and spineless creepers" for the party's plight in the Lok Sabha elections, lamented that Congress is not getting to the root of the problem.
"Obviously there is something radically wrong somewhere which needs to be corrected. I don't think leadership is getting to the root of the problem. Delhi is not an isolated example. State after state is witnessing continuation of process of decimation of Congress", Deo felt.
