Rahul rocks party, says Congressmen may drink

New Delhi: It’s okay for Congress members to drink and they don’t have to wear khadi all the time, believes party MP Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul attended his first Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting as a general secretary on Wednesday, and the first thing he wanted to change was just who should be a Congressman.

He says there’s little point in implementing commandments like Congress members must not drink and always wear khadi when they can’t be verified.

To join the Congress volunteers are also supposed to have a ceiling on property they own, not discriminate, practice secularism and go along with party rules and constitution.

Rahul was fine with these rules but wanted the party to be more practical. CNN-IBN’s Chief Political Correspondent Pallavi Ghose says Rahul’s suggestions indicate the Congress he would like to build but they have put the party leadership on the defensive.

Rahul doesn’t want khadi to be mandatory but the fabric is a symbol of Gandhism—the cornerstone of the Congress’ identity.

Senior party leaders have had to defend Rahul for his statements earlier too—when he said that his family helped in “dividing Pakistan” and when he said that if a Gandhi family member been in power during 1992, the Babri Masjid would not have been demolished.

Rahul’s suggestions may have embarrassed Congress leaders once again, says Ghose.

Asked if the party had accepted any of Rahul’s suggestions, senior leader Veerappa Moily told UNI: "All issues are open for discussion at appropriate time. We will consider everything."

The political crisis in Karnataka, the Indo-US nuclear deal and the coming elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh figured low on the 90-minute long CWC meeting and the focus was on amendment proposals and the preparations for the November 17 All India Congress Committee session

Chaired by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, the meet of the highest decision making body of the 120-year-old party was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and all the 23 CWC members and nine of the 12 permanent invitees.