Stopping Rahul Gandhi from leading party will destroy Congress: Sanjay Raut
Mumbai: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said stopping Rahul Gandhi from taking over leadership of Congress will lead to "extinction" of the grand old party.
In his weekly column Rokhthok in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana, Raut also said Congress lacks a leader who can stand up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with full might.
Referring to the letter by 23 Congress leaders to Sonia Gandhi on having a "full time" leadership that is active in the field and "visible" in party offices, Raut wondered who is stopping these leaders from being active.
"Activeness to stop Rahul Gandhi will be instrumental in destroying the party and lead to its extinction," Raut said.
Having a non-Gandhi as Congress president is a good idea, but no one in those 23 has that capability, said Raut whose party, along with Congress and NCP, is a constituent of the ruling alliance in Maharashtra.
Referring to regional parties floated by former Congress leaders, Raut said, "The Congress still exists across India but with different masks. If these masks are thrown away, it can emerge as a prominent political party."
He said Congress veteran late V N Gadgil described the Congress as an old woman who will never die."Rahul Gandhi has to decide what to do with the old lady," Raut added.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
