Haven't met Rahul Gandhi in four years: Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan
Mumbai, Jun 2: Congress leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, a member of a group of dissidents in the party, has said that he has not been able to meet senior leader Rahul Gandhi in the last four years.
There was no 'chintan' or introspection at the recent Congress conclave in Udaipur, he told the Times of India podcast which released on Thursday.
I occasionally meet Dr Manmohan Singh whenever I am in Delhi. But his health is not what it used to be earlier. He is always hospitable and ready to talk. I have also met Sonia Gandhi whenever I sought time, but I haven't been able to meet Rahul Gandhi for long time...I think in four years. There is a complaint that the party leadership is not as accessible as it should be, said Chavan during the interview.
The former Union minister is part of the `G-23, a group of dissident leaders who are pressing for organizational reforms in the Grand Old Party which has suffered one electoral setback after another in the recent years.
Speaking about the Udaipur meeting, Chavan said the Congress president had agreed to hold a "chintan shibir" to discuss the issues before the party, but someone "more loyal than the king" decided that a chintan or introspection wasn't needed.
"So, the Udaipur meeting was a `nav-sankalp (new resolution) shibir.' The party felt that a post-mortem was not needed and it only needed to look at the future," he said.
"There should have been an honest introspection, not to fix accountability or hang people, but to ensure that we don't repeat those mistakes. After the Assam and Kerala Assembly polls, a committee was formed to go into the party's performance. But the committee's report was buried in a cupboard, which is not in the correct spirit of things,' he said.
Chavan also said that Kapil Sibal, who recently quit the party, felt strongly that the Congress leadership wasn't getting honest advice, and `nominated' persons only give the advice which the leadership likes.
'If we want to defeat (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi in 2024, we have to do well in the ensuing 12 state Assembly elections. We have to have a large, broad coalition of like-minded parties,' he said.
The Congress was seeing a tussle between "people of experience" and people of "energy", but a mix of the two is desirable, he said.
Asked about decisions taken during the Nav-sankalp shibir, Chavan said these decisions have to be ratified by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) before they become binding.
'We expected a chintan (introspection), which is a difficult exercise. Reports of the committees set up after the previous election debacles should have been discussed,' he said.
Division of votes helped the BJP win, and a large coalition has to be led by Congress as a national alternative, Chavan said.
There was a leadership vacuum in Congress in several states, so regional parties are trying to fill that space, he said, adding that building a large coalition of like-minded parties was difficult, but not impossible.
'If we lose in 2024, the spirit of liberal democracy will be lost. We have to undertake elections in the party at the earliest,' Chavan said. He also opined that pursuing "soft Hindutva" was not a good strategy as people would rather go in for the BJP's "hard Hindutva" in that case.
'No Muslim voted for Congress in Uttar Pradesh. We have to define secularism very correctly. A state has no religion. It cannot pick one religion over another,' the Congress leader said.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
