Rahul Gandhi most acceptable leader in Cong: Ajay Maken

New Delhi: Amid uncertainties over the leadership issue, senior Congress leader and former Union minister Ajay Maken has said it is high time Rahul Gandhi comes back as party president as he is the most acceptable leader.

The former president of the Congress' Delhi unit, Maken, in an interview to PTI, also batted for veterans to gradually make way for younger leaders, saying if parties do not change their leadership with time, then people change parties.

Vouching for Rahul Gandhi as Congress chief, he said there is no other face as acceptable as Rahul who also has good intent at heart, zero baggage and consistently takes an aggressive stand in fighting against the might of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Maken also argued for a long-term advisory role for interim president Sonia Gandhi saying her experience and expertise in handling Congress affairs would be much needed by the new president.

The party constitution can be amended to ensure that, he said.

"I think it is high time Rahul Gandhi came back. I am saying this with very strong conviction and strong reasons behind this. Rahul Gandhi is universally acceptable in the Congress party. There is no other face who is as much acceptable as Rahul Gandhi is, Maken said.

So, a person who is universally acceptable, no baggage, good intent at heart and who has been consistent and most aggressive against the BJP and Modi, and has been the voice amplifier of farmers, Dalits and minorities. I think, he single-handedly deserves to be Congress president, he said.

Asked about what would be the right time for Rahul Gandhi to return, Maken said, the sooner, the better, because it will end uncertainty.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also said Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are deeply wary of the unwavering conviction and fearlessness with which Rahul Gandhi has taken on the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

"Rahul Gandhi has adequately proved his mettle. Time has come to rise above the parochial issues of regional leadership and work towards strengthening and rebuilding the Congress. Needless to add that Rahul Gandhi is the obvious and only choice to lead the Congress," he said.

Maken noted that the country needs a person with "good intent at heart, not good content in speech".

"We have seen the country is paying the price to just follow good content in speech and the present situation where our country is in, the economy is in doldrums, there is a social strife, the riots going on in the national capital and the government not doing anything, is just because the people voted for good content in speech of Narendra Modi. They never saw the intent at heart of the leader," the Congress leader said.

Commenting on the old versus young debate in the Congress, Maken strongly argued for gradual change of guard in the party and said parties must change their leadership in time.