‘No harm in taking a break’: Prashant Kishor tells Rahul Gandhi

Political strategist Prashant Kishor suggests Rahul Gandhi step back if Congress fails in Lok Sabha polls.

Political strategist Prashant Kishor has suggested that Rahul Gandhi should consider stepping back if the Congress does not get the desired results in the Lok Sabha polls.

In an interaction with PTI editors, he said Mr. Gandhi, for all practical purposes, is running his party and has been unable to either step aside or let somebody else steer the Congress despite his inability to deliver in the last 10 years.

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"This according to me is also anti-democratic," said Mr. Kishor, who had prepared a revival plan for the Opposition party but walked out due to the disagreements between him and its leadership over the execution of his strategy.

"When you are doing the same work for the last 10 years without any success, then there is no harm in taking a break... You should allow someone else to do it for five years. Your mother did it," he said, recalling Sonia Gandhi's decision to keep away from politics following her husband Rajiv Gandhi's assassination and let P.V. Narasimha Rao take charge in 1991.

A key attribute of good leaders the world over is that they know what they lack and actively look to fill those gaps, he said.

"But it seems to Rahul Gandhi that he knows everything. Nobody can help you if you do not recognise the need for help. He believes he needs someone who can execute what he thinks is right. It is not possible," Mr. Kishor said.