Calling Congress veterans as 'grandfathers' wrong

Panaji: Congress MP Francisco Sardinha on Wednesday took objection to the party's young leaders for calling veteran politicians as 'grandfathers'.

Addressing a press conference here, Sardinha, a Lok Sabha MP from South Goa, also said that decisions taken by a politically "novice" State leadership had led to the party's rout in the recently conducted zilla panchayat (ZP) polls.

"Some of them (young leaders) called seniors who have been elected as grandfathers. To run any organisation you need a combination of seniors and juniors.

Seniors who have been elected many times and juniors who want to dream. We also want them to dream. We want their dreams to come true," said Sardinha, a former Chief Minister.

The outburst comes days after the party was routed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the recently conducted zilla panchayat polls. Out of the 49 seats which went to poll on Saturday (December 12), the Congress managed to win only four seats, while the BJP romped home with 33 seats. In the run up to the polls, a junior Congress leader Sandeep Naik had referred to veterans in the party as "grandfathers" asking them to step aside from active politics.

"These senior leaders have become grandfathers now and it's time for them to play with their grandchildren and not in politics," Naik had said. Sardinha in his press conference also blamed the party's state leadership for taking erroneous decisions which he said, had led to the Congress' rout.

"I totally blame the leadership of the party. I also blame people who had taken some of the decisions of the late. They are political novices and they have not taken the seniors of the party into confidence," he said.