'Have to retire lame horses': Rahul Gandhi's big message to Congress old guard?

Rahul Gandhi launched the Organisation Rejuvenation Campaign (Sangthan Srijan Abhiyan) in Madhya Pradesh.

Launching the Organisation Rejuvenation Campaign (Sangthan Srijan Abhiyan) in Madhya Pradesh, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said the Congress’s 'lame horses' should be retired to rebuild the party in the BJP-ruled state.

He was addressing members of the State Congress Committee, district and block presidents, and AICC members at Ravindra Bhavan. According to Gandhi, the Congress has three types of horses: ceremonial horses, racehorses, and lame horses.

“The district president has come here, and there will be some of you who work for the Congress party with full strength and there will be some who are a little tired or who are not in a good mood, who are taking too much tension. Now we have to differentiate between a race horse and a wedding horse. Earlier, I used to say that there are two types. Kamal Nath had said that the Congress party sometimes sends a race horse to the wedding procession and sometimes makes the wedding horse stand in the race line. But there is a third category, which is a lame (langda) horse, so we have to differentiate. We have to retire the lame horse, so this change has to be brought..be retired,” said Gandhi.

He also stressed the importance of strengthening Congress committees at the block and district levels, stating that candidates for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections will be selected based on recommendations from these committees.

While addressing the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) session  in Ahmedabad on April 9, the  Congress leader announced the party wants to “empower” district presidents, “give them greater responsibilities”, and make them “the foundation of the party”.

He also said that caste census will meet the same fate as the Women Reservation Act, which is not being implemented immediately and will come into force after some years. He alleged that the central government does not want to bring social justice and wants to promote chosen industralists.

"BJP does not want to conduct caste census, because if caste census is conducted then their Adani-Ambani model will end because country will know that 90 per cent are not benefiting from this and the country's money is only being sent to the 5-10 per cent, and people will rise up stop this on their own. This is the fight," he said.

 What does BJP say?

Reacting to Rahul Gandhi’s remark, Haryana Minister and BJP leader Anil Vij asked which kind of horse the Congress leader considers himself to be.

“If Rahul Gandhi calls all his workers horses, having different varieties, including procession, race, and battle, then tell him his quality. Which horse is he? Does he belong to the procession horses, lame horses, or war horses?" he asked.

Madhya Pradesh BJP President and party MP VD Sharma said Gandhi doesn’t even know how to ride a horse. “He should first worry about managing his own party’s ‘horses’ before making such remarks," he told News18.