Congress leader Jairam Ramesh today said that there is a need to get the party's leadership in order and expand its footprint in the country. "We lost badly in 2014 and 2019 (elections). We have to get our house in order," he told NDTV in an interview today. "We need to get our leadership in order, our messaging in order... no one leader has a magic wand, this is a team effort," he added.
Mr Ramesh said the Congress party needs to reach common understanding with like-minded parties before the next elections.
The senior Congress leader also attacked those who have left the party, by saying: "Youngsters who have left us are privileged by birth, they got good positions by the party... For every (Jyotiraditya) Scindia who has left, there are thousands of young Congress workers who are fighting for the party."
Jyotiraditya Scindia left the party for the BJP last year.
"Why is the BJP accepting those they criticise for being privileged? When these people are in Congress, BJP criticises them but then it takes them too... there is a certain discipline to a party - people can't just go and come as they please," Mr Ramesh said.
He also praised Rajasthan Congress leader Sachin Pilot and said he is "a great asset to the Congress... there is a great future ahead of him in the party."
Jairam Ramesh's comments come after Sachin Pilot reached Delhi to try and meet with the party leadership on demands that he says have remained unresolved months after he was promised a solution. After Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada, who left last week, Mr Pilot is seen to be a flight risk by a section of the party, though sources close to him have made it clear that he is not joining the BJP.
