Rahul Gandhi just an ordinary party worker: Cong leader Laxman Singh

Bhopal, Dec 31 (IANS) Former MP and Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Laxman Singh said on Sunday that former party chief Rahul Gandhi is "an ordinary party worker" and parliamentarian, and he should not be considered a "big leader".

Singh, who is the younger brother of former Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh, made the remarks during an interaction with media persons at the party office in Guna on Saturday.

During a visit to the party office in Guna, he said, "Rahul Gandhi is an MP, and not the party's President. He is a Congress worker." 

Singh was also heard saying that the media has been unnecessarily giving attention to Rahul Gandhi. "One does not become (big) by birth but by one's actions. Don't consider Rahul Gandhi such a big leader, I don't. He is an ordinary MP. It doesn't matter whether you highlight him or not," he said.

Singh was in Guna to appeal his party workers to extend their support to the families of those charred to death in a bus in Guna a couple of days back. At least 13 people were charred to death and over half-a-dozen were injured after a bus collided with a truck on December 27.

Singh's remarks gave an ample opportunity to the ruling BJP to take jibe at Congress. Also, it came at the time when Rahul Gandhi is set to start his second phase of his 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.

Singh, who hails from Raghogarh under Guna district, had contested the 23023 Assembly election from Chachaura constituency and lost by 61,570 votes against BJP's Priyanka Penchi.

After the poll results on December 3, Singh had blamed infighting within the state Congress unit for loss in the Assembly election. He had said that in its surveys, the Congress was in a position to win the election in Madhya Pradesh. But, unfortunately the surveys could not reveal how many seats it lost due to sabotage. 

--IANS

pd/sha