“We had four and a half years of stability. The boat was absolutely stable. Unfortunately people who were charged with looking at Punjab, they did not grasp the magnitude and uniqueness of this border state. Especially when you have the Chinese who have intruded into Ladakh. This whole thing could have been handled much better and in a far more elegant manner,” said Congress MP Manish Tewari in an interview to NDTV.
Tewari’s veiled attack on the Congress' higher leadership comes as the Congress party in Punjab is facing a massive crisis with its state president Navjyot Singh Sidhu resigning from his post, and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh meeting BJP leader and Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi.
The former CM’s meeting with Shah, after an acrimonious resignation, has sparked speculations of him joining the BJP. However, Amarinder’s team has said that the visit was a “courtesy call”.
"At this time, I think it should be the foremost priority of every Congressman to ensure that the mandate of the people is respected. And stability and sanity are restored to both the state and its government. These battles. This prolonged sulking. I don't think it augurs wells for the state. People of Punjab are not approving what is happening,” Tewari said in the interview.
"It is imperative that we get our act together and we measure up to the aspirations of the people," he added.
Further speaking on the way ahead for the party in the state, Tewari who represents a Punjab constituency in the Lok Sabha, said that the Congress needs to come up with a better plan and designate responsibilities to experienced leaders.
"All those people who have experience, who have the political wisdom of having handled things over a period of time, the MPs from the state of Punjab, who've lost family members in the fight against terror, have spent long years in the Congress party—those are the hands you need to get on deck," he said.
"Nobody is questioning anybody's supremacy. Nobody is questioning anybody's numero uno position, but there are concerns that till the time we don't have a road map, or we don't have a cohesive narrative in place, then we won't be able to live up to the expectations of the people," he added.
Tewari was one of 23 senior Congress leaders who wrote to Congress' acting President, Sonia Gandhi, in August 2020, asking for an overhaul in the functioning of the Congress.
Another senior Congress leader, Kapil Sibal, also a part of the G-23, had taken a dig at the Congress' higher leadership as well.
"In Congress there is no elected president now. Who is taking calls? We don't know who is taking decisions in the party," Sibal had said.
"We are G-23, definitely not Ji Huzoor-23," he added.
(With inputs from NDTV)
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