Congress downplays Jairam Ramesh's 'existential crisis' remark, calls it his 'personal views'

Senior leader Ramesh had said Congress is facing an "existential crisis" and called for efforts by party leaders to overcome the challenges it is facing from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah

The Congress party on Tuesday downplayed senior party leader Jairam Ramesh's remark that the grand old party is facing an "existential crisis".

Terming the comment as Ramesh's personal views, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, however, acknowledged that the party is going through a "challenging phase".

"We don't agree that there is an existential crisis. Congress principle, the policy is strong under the leadership of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi," Surjewala told news agency ANI.

Senior leader Ramesh had said Congress is facing an "existential crisis" and called for efforts by party leaders to overcome the challenges it is facing from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. According to him, the usual approach will not work against Modi and Shah and that party leaders need to show flexibility in their approach to make Congress relevant.

Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said that Jairam Ramesh's comment shows that he is concerned for the party, adding that attention ought to be given to his opinion.

"If we don't pay attention to different opinions and find out the solution then we cannot go forward," ANI quoted Aiyar as said.

In an exclusive interview to PTI, Ramesh earlier stated the Congress had faced "electoral crisis" from 1996 to 2004 when it was out of power and also faced a similar situation in 1977, when it lost the elections held immediately after the emergency.

"But today, I would say that the Congress is facing an existential crisis. It is not an electoral crisis. The party really is in deep crisis," Ramesh had said.

OneIndia News