Regional parties are successful "because they have a clear agenda" unlike the Congress, which will soon become a "tail party", Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leader Kalvakuntla Kavitha said today in a sharp reaction to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his recent remarks at the party's brainstorming camp in Rajasthan.
"Regional parties have a clear agenda for people, Rahulji (Rahul Gandhi) should understand even in Maharashtra they are in power because of regional party there. In Maharashtra, Congress is tail party, tomorrow it'll be tail party in the country and regional parties will take lead," she said.
Further taking swipe at the Congress, Ms Kavitha, who is the daughter of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, said that unlike the grand old party, regional parties have no leadership crisis.
"When our country is reeling with unemployment and communal disharmony, Mr Gandhi expressed anguish about the success of regional parties. We are successful because we perform. Unlike the Congress, regional parties don't have a leadership crisis," the TRS leader said.
In his address at his party's "Chintan Shivir" (brainstorming camp) in Udaipur, Mr Gandhi had claimed that regional parties cannot fight the BJP and the RSS as they lack ideology. The Congress can fight them, he had said.
"BJP will talk about Congress, will talk about Congress leaders, will talk about Congress workers, but will not talk about regional parties, because they know, that regional parties have their place, but they cannot defeat BJP. Because they don't have an ideology," Mr Gandhi had said, addressing Congress leaders.
His remarks were criticized by almost all the regional parties, including Congress's former alliance partners like the Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD, which said that the Congress should settle to be "co-travellers" and let them be in the "driving seat".
Ms Kavitha, who is former MP from Nizamabad, also criticized the BJP-led central government over its decision to auction the Adilabad Unit of Cement Corporation of India Limited (CCI) as they move will affect jobs of thousands of workers.
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