NEW DELHI: Amid deepening crisis in the Congress, with the party’s working president in Gujarat Hardik Patel quitting the party ahead of the Assembly polls, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday left for London to address an ‘Ideas for India’ conference.
Rahul Gandhi, former Congress chief, will also interact with the Indian diaspora on what the present and future hold for the country, said the Congress media department head and general secretary Randeep Surjewala.
The ‘Ideas for India’ event is slated for Friday in London. He will be reaching London on Thursday evening. Congress leaders Salman Khurshid and Priyank Khadge are also in London to take part in the event.
On May 23, Rahul Gandhi will address and interact at Cambridge University on “India at 75: The challenges and way ahead for a resilient-modern India”.
Rahul Gandhi has left for London at a time when Congress is battling desertion by party leaders from key states. Hardik Patel quit Congress at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party has already gone in overdrive to prepare for the Gujarat Assembly elections.
Earlier, Congress’ former Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar had quit the party, with a cryptic remark ‘goodbye and good luck’. On Thursday, he joined the BJP in the presence of party national president J P Nadda.
While Congress held marathon discussions with the poll strategist Prashant Kishor, he eventually rejected the proposal to join a committee of the party. Subsequently, Congress held a Chintan Shivir in Udaipur, Rajasthan, to brainstorm over challenges faced by the party, including a roadmap to strengthen the organisation ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. (ANI)