"People In Charge Of UP...": P Chidambaram's Veiled Swipe At Priyanka Gandhi

P Chidambaram said, "People in charge of UP tried to do two things at the same time. First was rebuilding the party, and fighting an election. I had cautioned them that both can't be done at the same time".

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, in what appeared an indirect criticism of party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, told NDTV today that he had cautioned the party leadership in charge of Uttar Pradesh against contesting an election and rebuilding the party at the same time. He had suggested that the rebuilding come first, he said.Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, tasked with rebuilding the party in Uttar Pradesh four years ago by her brother and then Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, was openly talking of doing both during the campaign.

The Congress has been steadily losing ground in Uttar Pradesh, a state it has not ruled since 1989. In the recently concluded assembly election, the party was practically wiped out, losing five of the seven seats it won in 2017. The party's voteshare shrunk to a paltry 2.4 per cent.

"In UP, we all know the party has withered away over the years," Mr Chidambaram told NDTV in an exclusive interview, where he also insisted that the Gandhis could not be held responsible for the party's recent election defeats.

"People in charge of UP tried to do two things at the same time. First was rebuilding the party, and fighting an election. I had cautioned them that both can't be done at the same time. The rebuilding of the party must come first. And an election can come later. But unfortunately the rebuilding of the party and the election battle took place at the same time," he added.