Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi: Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid has blamed lack of “ideological direction” from Rahul Gandhi as the root cause of problems which the Congress party is facing today.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Khurshid said, “Until now, we have only seen cameos of his thought and ideas like democratising elections to the Youth Congress. But he has not weaved all of this into a grand announcement. This is a period of waiting.”

“We need a new ideology to meet contemporary challenges. Reforms in the 1990s were the emergence of a new ideology. But today we need an ideology to be given by our next generation leader Rahul Gandhi to move forward. We have to be clear about what we want to go ahead with in the next elections,” he added.

According to the minister, it is a “waiting time” for the Congress and the government until that happens.

Khurshid admitted that Rahul was still not ready to take complete charge. The party can do nothing about it but wait for him to make up his mind, he conceded.

“The fact is that he is undoubtedly and unquestionably the number two leader in the party. Yet he has not taken up the mantle or accepted a functional responsibility. He is so far not willing to accept the number two position. In such a situation, we have to wait. This is a waiting time,” Khurshid said.

But he cautioned the party on addressing issues dealing with “political management”.

“In UPA II, governance and politics have all got intermingled. The political props have got mixed up. It’s a scattered situation.

“The stage has to be set up again and only the Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) can do it. She is the one who has the stature. The Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) can then run the government, but he cannot set the stage,” he said.

Khurshid said he was not intending a Cabinet reshuffle or expansion.

“The problem with mixed-up props is that you know the lines but you suddenly realise that things around you are not the same. And we have also not had the time because events are forcing the pace, they are leading us.”

He also conceded that because of the existing situation, not just economic reforms but even political and administrative reforms have slowed down.