Amid uncertainty over Rahul Gandhi continuing as Congress president, senior leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Sunday said that a 'non-Gandhi' can be the party chief, but the Gandhi family must remain active within the organisation.
The BJP's objective is to have a "Gandhi-mukt Congress" so as to have a "Congress-mukt Bharat", he claimed. It would be best that Rahul remains party chief, but at the same time, Rahul's own wishes must also be respected, he added.
"I am sure we can survive if we have to without a Nehru-Gandhi as the titular head of the party, provided the Nehru-Gandhis remain active in the party and can help resolve a crisis in case
serious differences arise," he said. Aiyar said Gandhi has given about a month to the party to find a replacement and there have been confabulations within the Congress over the issue with the feeling in the party overwhelmingly in favour of him staying on.
The former Union minister, however, emphasised that instead of speculating, media must wait for the "deadline" to know whether a replacement has been found or Gandhi gets persuaded to remain as Congress chief.
"I don't think it is a matter of personalities. I know it is the objective of the BJP to have a Gandhi-mukt Congress so as to have a Congress-mukt Bharat. I don't think we should be falling into the trap of thinking that they have discovered something that we are not able to discover," Aiyar said.