My frustration is that Rahul Gandhi is too forward-looking, says Jairam Ramesh

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Even while saying that if BJP`s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi does not do well in the 2014 General Elections the story would be over for him but Rahul Gandhi would still be around if he did not fare well, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said that he felt frustrated with the Congress vice president as he was too forward-looking. In an interview given to a news agency, the Congress leader maintained that the generational shift within the Congress party has been smooth and Rahul was bringing about a generational change. Ramesh gave the example of the intervention by the Congress vice president on the issue of Ordinance on convicted lawmakers cleared by the Union Cabinet as an example of that. Rahul had called the Ordinance as `nonsense` and following his intervention the controversial ordinance was withdrawn. Jairam said that that`s what Rahul should do. At the same time, while maintaining that Rahul would still be around even if he did not do well in the next year`s elections, unlike Modi, Jairam said that his frustration was that the Congress vice president was too forward-looking. "He is talking of structure, systems; he’s talking of building up Congress in the long term whereas we are now faced with fighting an election in the short term," the Union Minister was quoted by the news agency as saying. He added that Modi was somebody whom the Congress had to contend with and one could not just airbrush him aside.