If AAP wasn't there, we would have beaten BJP in Guj: Rahul
Jaipur: The Congress should not be underestimated and it will take down the BJP, Rahul Gandhi said on Friday and asserted that the Congress is different from a large number of Opposition parties as it represents a vision for the country which none of the regional outfits can do.
He also claimed that his party would have probably beaten the BJP in the Gujarat assembly polls had the Aam Aadmi Party not been put up as a "proxy" and used to target the Congress. Addressing a press conference on the completion of 100 days of the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra, Gandhi said the idea that the Congress is dying is a fantasy of many, but it won't come true. Asked about the exodus of leaders from the Congress in the recent past, he said if certain people who don't have the courage to face the BJP, are corrupt and the BJP can apply pressure on them, they are welcome to leave the party.
"We don't want them. What we need is people who are fighting the BJP, who believe in the Congress ideology and who are standing firm against the fascism that is taking place in this country, that is what we need," Gandhi said.
He rejected suggestions that winning the Himachal Pradesh polls was like a "drop in the ocean" in the current scenario.
Responding to a question, he said, "Please don't underestimate what the Congress is. What has happened is that, and with all due respect you (media) have been responsible for it, there has been a systematic defamation campaign run against myself for sure and against the Congress, and the press has participated wilfully in this," Gandhi said
But the idea that the Congress is withering away and is ineffective, has all been preached by the BJP, the former Congress chief said.
Asked about the response to the Bharat Jodo Yatra so far, he said it has been overwhelming in Rajasthan and the Hindi speaking belt. He claimed that none of the regional parties can represent a vision for the country. They can represent a vision for a community or a state but they cannot represent a vision for the country, he added.
