Appointed Congress Chief Won’t Have 1% Support: Ghulam Nabi Azad

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad is one of the signatories to the ‘dissident’ letter.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress leader in Rajya Sabha. 

(Photo: PTI)

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, one of the signatories to the ‘dissident’ letter, on 27 August, said “those office-bearers or state unit presidents or block district presidents who attack our proposal know that they will be nowhere when elections happen,” reported news agency ANI.

He further stated that an appointed president right now “may not even have one percent support”.

This comment comes four days after Azad was targeted at the top meeting.

“Anyone who has a genuine interest in the internal working dynamics of Congress would welcome our proposal to have every state and district president as being elected. The entire Congress Working Committee should be elected,” the Rajya Sabha member told ANI.

“The intention is to make Congress active and strong. But those who simply got ‘appointment cards’ continue to oppose our proposal. What’s the harm in having elected CWC members who will have stable tenures in the party?”

Ghulam Nabi Azad, Senior Congress Leader

Talking about the leadership in the party, the Congress veteran said that initially Rahul Gandhi had issues with the letter, but later, Sonia and Rahul agreed to hold elections within a month. But it won’t be possible due to COVID. Hence, the party requested Sonia Gandhi to continue as President for next 6 months.

The Letter Controversy

The letter was written to interim chief Sonia Gandhi by 23 Congress leaders including MPs and former ministers calling for reforms in the party, an inclusive decision making and “full-time, visible leadership” in the party.

Many members of the party saw this as an attack on Rahul Gandhi, who quit as the party chief last year after the Congress’ defeat in Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier on 24 August, it was decided that Sonia Gandhi will continue as the interim president of the party.

(With inputs from NDTV)