Day after, Congress goes soft on rebels

NEW DELHI: A day after facing open rebellion in Maharashtra and Assam with two ministers resigning from their posts, the Congress appeared to soften its stand, likening them to children going astray.

"Personal ambition for high offices and ... political opportunism make an individual behave negatively. However, the party is far above any individual. Party is like mother. Any child who does not have mother is an orphan," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.

"However delinquent a child may be, he finds security, solace and progress in the embrace of the mother," he said in a remark seen as sending signals to the rebel leaders to come back to the fold.

The comments were aimed at senior party leaders and Congress ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam) and Narayan Rane (Maharashtra) quit their posts.

Surjewala said the party does recognise that people can have aspirations, but added that "no aspiration is bigger than that of the cumulative interest of the organisation".

He said Sarma is "grounded in grassroots" and has toiled for the party for years together, "which will never take him to a path different from Indian National Congress".

Sarma is a "loyal soldier" and "very dear" to Congress and whatever the issues, they would be resolved by the party, Surjewala said.

He also hailed Rane as a "senior leader" but said he was unaware about any commitment made to him that he would be made the chief minister in the run-up to the assembly polls.

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