Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra introduced a new chapter in Congress politics on Tuesday when they interviewed the aspirants for the posts of city and block presidents of the party.
The aspirants were asked questions related to the history of the Congress, the concept of panchayati raj, prominent schemes launched by the UPA government, the benefits of MNREGA, and the ideology of the Congress as well as its organisation.
Jitendra Singh, a candidate for the block president from Salon, said, “It was more tough than what we expected. More tough than an interview for a job. This is the first time that we had to face such questions.”
Another block president aspirant, Sabhajit Shukla from Sangrampur said that Priyanka fielded more questions than Rahul who quietly observed the candidates.
“They asked me what were the reasons for the Congress defeat in Amethi in last year’s Assembly elections and some other questions related to the constituency,” he said.
The exercise makes it amply clear that Mr Gandhi, this time, wants to strengthen party from the grassroots level and will not allow bogus membership and leadership at any level.