PM Modi taught me what not to do: Rahul
New Delhi, Dec 11: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi taught him "what not to do" and he also "learnt a lot" from the massive defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Gandhi also said the prime minister got a massive mandate but refused to listen to "heartbeat of the country".
Addressing a press conference here after the Congress' resurgence in the Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, he said, "I was speaking to my mother yesterday and I was telling her that the absolute best thing for me was the 2014 election. I've learnt a lot from that election."
The most important thing that he learnt from the 2014 polls was humility, said the 48-year-old Congress chief.
"This is a great country and the most important thing in this country is what the people feel," he said.
As a politician one has to listen to what the people feel and also connect with what they feel, Gandhi said.
"Frankly, Mr Narendra Modi taught me the lesson -- what not to do," Gandhi said.
He said, "Five years ago, he (Modi) was handed a massive opportunity to transform this country. The sad thing is that he refused to listen to the heartbeat of the country."
Modi refused to hear what the youngsters and farmers were saying, he alleged.
"Certain amount of arrogance came in. I think that is fatal for a politician. That is something I learnt from how he has acted. For me the best teachers are the people of this country," Gandhi asserted, adding that he has had a "nice journey" since 2014.
"(Have taken) Little bit of a beating also, but it is a good thing, not a bad thing...," he quipped.
To another question on whether the Congress was now thinking of a 'BJP-mukt Bharat', Gandhi answered in the negative and said the party's approach was different as it wanted to defeat them but not free India from anyone.
"We have defeated them now and we will defeat them in 2019," he said.
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Women ought to have been given more seats by Congress in Assembly polls: Satheesan
Kochi (PTI): Congress leader V D Satheesan on Saturday agreed that women ought to have been given more seats in the upcoming Assembly polls.
The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Kerala Assembly said that the party wanted to give more seats to women in the Assembly polls.
"We wanted to give more seats. Even I am not satisfied with that issue. It (seats given) was not enough," he told reporters at Paravoor here.
His response comes a day after Congress national spokesperson Shama Mohamed expressed dissatisfaction over the low representation of women in the party's candidate list for the upcoming Assembly elections on April 9.
Regarding queries related to the UDF support for former CPI(M) leader G Sudhakaran, the opposition leader said that he has a lot of respect for the Marxist veteran who was a "fair minister" when he was in government.
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"He (Sudhakaran) does not lie. He was a fair minister. He distributed funds to all MLAs equally. I still respect him. He took a stand, and after that, we politically backed him," Satheesan said.
He also said that he was greatly indebted to former MLA and Congress Joseph Vazhakan, who had brought him back to the political mainstream.
"So, I am greatly indebted to him. He loved me like a brother. I am sad that even in my current position, I could not ensure a seat for him," he said.
Vazhakan had on Friday expressed his disappointment over being denied a seat at the last moment, as he had printed election posters and banners in preparation to contest in the polls.
He, however, had said that he would remain committed to the party despite the setback.
Vazhakan had said that his name had been under consideration for the Ettumannur constituency, but the Congress on Thursday decided to field DCC president Nattakom Suresh from the seat.
Satheesan, while speaking to reporters, also said that there was nothing wrong with posters being put up in the name of any Congress leader.
"We have no problems with that as the team Congress is united. The CM candidate has already been decided. It's CPI(M) narrative that there are problems in the Congress, there are no issues in the party," he said in response to reporters' queries about posters of K C Venugopal being put up in many places of the state.
