File photo of Bhanwar Lal Sharma
The Congress has suspended its Rajasthan MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma, who had criticised party vice-president Rahul Gandhi for the Congress' dismal performance in the national election.
Mr Sharma had said that Congress was in its worst days because of Rahul and suggested that party chief Sonia Gandhi should focus on strengthening the party instead of having affection for her son.
"Rahul Gandhi is directionless and has no policy. He and his advisors are responsible for the party's embarrassment and defeat in elections as there is no huge mass support for him," Mr Sharma had said.
"The people who are around him (Rahul) are jokers. He is the MD of a team of jokers," Mr Sharma said.
When asked about who are the jokers according to him, he said, "Why should I take names? You tell me who is not? Have Digvijay Singh and CP Joshi ever given right statement? Everyone is like this."
Another Congress leader TH Mustafa had snowballed a controversy earlier this week by saying that Mr Gandhi depended on a coterie close to him during the campaign and "acting like a joker" would not help in elections. Following the controversy, Mustafa was suspended from the party.