New Delhi: Reflecting the growing unease and concern within the Congress after its election defeat, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have been urged to don the role of “surgeons” to put the organisation back on the path of recovery.

Senior leader who heads the party group in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said wherever there are shortcomings the party should go into it and remove them.

Congress rivals and former Congress rebels who have now joined hands with BJP gunned for Rahul and said no surgery could save Congress because it was afflicted with the “cancer of corruption”. At the AICC briefing, party spokesman P C Chacko said the party had given freedom to state units to decide on poll strategies. “We are not saying the national leadership is not responsible,” he said. A day after his remarks about the need for surgery in the Congress created flutters, senior leader Digvijay Singh said the surgeons are Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and they should “take action forthwith” to set right matters in the party. In a bid to shield the leadership from any attack in the wake of crushing defeat in Assam and other states, he said, “Everyone is accountable and responsible for victory or defeat, no one individual.” He made it clear that Sonia and Rahul cannot be blamed for the electoral debacle. — PTI