A group of rebel leaders in the Congress party, many part of the G-23 grouping, met at Ghulam Nabi Azad's residence in Delhi on Wednesday evening, 16 March, to deliberate on the "demoralising outcome" of the recently held Assembly elections in 5 states, wherein the Congress' hold suffered a significant decline.
"We believe that the only way to move forward is for the Congress to adopt the model of collective and inclusive leadership and decision making at all levels," the leaders, which included Kapil Sibal, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, Bhupinder Hooda, and Prithviraj Chavan, said in a statement after the meeting.
"In order to oppose the BJP it is necessary to strengthen the Congress Party. We demand the Congress party to initiate dialogue with other likeminded forces to create a platform to pave the way for a credible alternative for 2024."The statement
The grouping said that the next steps in this regard would be announced soon.
Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, who usually remains neutral in his views on the leadership of the Gandhi family, also joined the meet.
"I've learnt so much from my mistakes, I'm thinking of making a few more," a cryptic tweet shared by Tharoor ahead of the meeting had stated.
The G-23 Leaders
After serial election defeats since 2014 – when the Congress lost power to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – the G-23 leaders were the first to write to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 calling for sweeping organisational changes, a "full-time and visible leadership" and collective decision-making.
As per a report by news agency PTI, some more leaders – Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, former Gujarat Chief Minister Shankar Singh Vaghela, former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, and former Haryana Speaker Kuldeep Sharma also joined the group's meeting on Wednesday.
The assembly of the G-23 leaders comes after a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Sunday, in which it was decided that Sonia Gandhi would continue as interim Congress president until elections for the post are conducted in August this year.
After the meeting, Sibal has been quite vocal in speaking out against the Gandhi family, criticising the leadership of the Congress for living in "cuckoo land." His comments were met with backlash from various other party leaders.
The Chandni Chowk City District Congress Committee and Adarsh Nagar District Congress on Wednesday passed resolutions for disciplinary action against Sibal, a former MP from Chandni Chowk constituency, for anti-party activities, reported news agency ANI.
What Had Sibal Said?
Alleging that the party's leadership was living in "cuckoo land," Congress leader Kapil Sibal said, "I want a 'sab ki Congress', some others want a 'ghar ki Congress'. And I will fight for a 'sab ki Congress' till my last breath," The Indian Express reported.
Pointing a finger at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Sibal said, "Rahul Gandhi went to Punjab and made the announcement that Charanjit Singh Channi will be the Chief Minister. In what capacity did he do that? He is not the president of the party, but he takes all the decisions."
His comments did not go down well with some of his fellow party leaders.
Rajasthan Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday criticised Sibal for his remarks against the party's top leadership, saying that the senior lawyer was not a man of "Congress culture" and didn't know "the ABCD of Congress."
Meanwhile, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that Sibal might be a good lawyer but he wasn't a good leader of the Congress party: "He never went to any village to work for Congress. He is deliberately trying to weaken the party. No one can weaken Sonia Gandhi or the Congress party."
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