Regional parties should rejoin Congress, accept Rahul Gandhi as leader: Ashok Gehlot

COngress leader and former Rajasthan chief government minister Ashok Gehlot on fri said that regional parties that spaced from u.s. Congress should rejoin its fold up, a day after Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut suggested that a merger should be headed by Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Sharad Pawar.“All those parties that became regional parties after separating from Congress should rejoin, and they should wholeheartedly accept Rahul Gandhi as the leader,” Gehlot said while speaking to reporters.His remarks follow after Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut urged for a merger of regional parties with the Congress.Raut, while speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said that parties like the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and NCP (SP), which were formed after their leaders quit the Congress, should return to its fold to form an alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).On Thursday, Raut suggested that NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar should lead the merging of the smaller parties that espouse the same ideology as the Congress.“If this (Congress) ideology comes together, then it will pose a big challenge to (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi. Pawar should take an initiative regarding this,” he said.Also Read: Sharad Pawar slams Mahajan on Blue Star remarks, defends Nehru-Gandhi legacyGehlot expressed his support for Raut’s suggestion the following day.“I believe that what Sanjay Raut has said has merit. The time has come. Now the fight is to save democracy. When we are all on the battlefield fighting to save democracy, I support what Sanjay Raut said,” he said.He urged regional parties to accept Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as the leader of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), adding that a “clear-cut” message of a common political leader would result in a change in voting patterns across the country.“They (voters) see that on one side is Narendra Modi ji and on the other side is Rahul Gandhi ji. If there is a clear-cut message that all political parties have together accepted Rahul Gandhi as their leader, then you will see that the voting pattern in the country will change,” Gehlot said.He further said that while parties like the Shiv Sena, Communist Party of India (CPI), and CPI(M), which have always been separate from the Congress, cannot be “claimed” or “urged,” he also has “no complaint” against independently formed parties like the Samajwadi Party (SP) not considering the move.