Punjab-like crisis natural for Congress: Bhupender | Economic Times

Union labour and environment minister Bhupender Yadav, while referring to the turmoil in the Congress, said changes in a political party have to be brought in through consensus, not by enforcing it on the party workers, and definitely not by humiliating senior workers. He was talking in the backdrop of the crisis the Congress is facing in Punjab and the questions raised by senior Congress leaders on the induction of activist-MLA Jignesh Mevani and former student leader from JNU, Kanhaiya Kumar, into the party.Speaking to ET, Yadav, who has been handling important assignments for the BJP as its general secretary over the past 10 years, said a Punjab-like crisis was only a natural consequence as "it was evident that the Congress does not honour the sacrifices made by its long-time workers"."Core leaders of the Congress are finding it difficult to get their voices heard or even justify their existence in their party, how are newcomers going to save the party? Two (Mevani and Kumar) came in and two (Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu) came out...When the party becomes the fiefdom of one family, and the talent and work done by workers are not respected, such destruction is the only end...Most surprising is that senior leaders of the Congress say they have no idea who is taking decisions in the party...A party that cannot elect its president on time, has no president for quite some time now, and where there are limitations even on who can get nominated as president, how can it claim to represent 125 crore people of India," he asked.Internal democracy, opportunities for talented and efficient people, and respect for its long-term workers are most important for a political party to work and connect with the people, Yadav said. Asserting that the change in BJP leadership in states such as Gujarat, Karnataka or Uttarakhand was not "crisis management" but reflective of the party's belief in "capacity building" of the next generation of leaders, Yadav said the party has a tradition of building consensus before changes happen. "There is a process that is followed internally, and whatever changes happen are done after taking everyone's views into account," he said. Yadav is also in charge of Gujarat BJP. "The ones who get replaced also get other responsibilities. For the BJP, the party and the government work on the principle of taking everyone along. That is never breache," he added.