New Delhi: The infighting in the Congress party reached a fever pitch at the virtual Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting Monday as senior party leaders, who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking a leadership overhaul took the fight to the Gandhis even as Rahul Gandhi alleged that the letter was “ill-timed”.
The drama played out after Sonia offered to resign from her post as interim president.
Speaking at the meeting, the top leaders who wrote to Sonia a fortnight ago reacted sharply against former party chief Rahul’s charges.
Senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was one of the signatories, offered to resign from the party, said the sources.
Kapil Sibal chose to take the fight public, hitting out at Rahul on Twitter for allegedly suggesting a “collusion” between the letter’s signatories and the BJP. However, within an hour of tweeting this, Sibal said he spoke with Rahul, who denied having made such a comment.
Was informed by Rahul Gandhi personally that he never said what was attributed to him .
I therefore withdraw my tweet .
— Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) August 24, 2020
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What Rahul said
Their retaliation came after Rahul hit out at the signatories to the controversial letter to Sonia. He said these leaders “got the timing completely wrong”, and suggested that the move “helped the BJP”.
Given that the Congress was facing turmoil in its Rajasthan government, and had seen a fall of its Madhya Pradesh government, the letter was ill-timed, and ended up helping the BJP, Rahul is learnt to have said.
The letter, demanding a “full-time and effective leadership” and criticising the leadership vacuum, was sent to interim president Sonia Gandhi around a fortnight ago.
Rahul also questioned the timing of the letter, saying Sonia wasn’t “keeping well” at the time. The 73-year-old had been admitted to Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on 30 July for “routine tests”, and was discharged three days later.
According to the sources, Rahul also said Sonia wanted to be relieved of the leadership role, and it was on “the party’s insistence” that she took charge as interim president.
His comments came soon after Sonia addressed the leaders, asking them to elect a new president.
She had offered to step down Sunday, in an internal communication to a party general secretary. She reiterated the same at the CWC meeting.
Other prominent leaders present at the meeting included former prime minister Manmohan Singh, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel.
Singh and senior leader A.K. Antony came to the leadership’s defence, “hailing” Sonia’s leadership, the sources said.
Other leaders present at the CWC meeting like Kumari Selja, president of the Haryana Congress, also hit out at the signatories of the letter, accusing them of “collusion” with the BJP, said the sources.
Support for family
The virtual meeting on WebEx came after several leaders took to social media to show solidarity with the Gandhi family.
Former Madhya Pradesh CMs Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath tweeted in support of Sonia Gandhi hours before the meeting.
“Any suggestion or insinuation that Mrs. Sonia Gandhi’s leadership is in question is absurd. I appeal to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to give strength to the Congress Party by continuing as President and lead the Congress,” Nath wrote.
Singh went a step ahead and suggested that Rahul should take over as president. “If Sonia ji does wish to step down then Rahul ji should accept the post of President while giving up his stubbornness,” he wrote.
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What has the Congress party of Sardar Patel,Lok Manya Tilak, Subhash Chandra Bose been reduced to,Agroup of sychophants rule the roost and this party is a family monopoly now,Shame Shame Shame
The Congress Senior and Junior Leaders need to get it through their head , that as long as any Gandhi is kept as Party President , the Congress doesn’t have a million in one chance to win LokSabha election for next 25 years , hopefully Madam Sonia Gandhi would be dead by then and Rahul Gandhi kicked out of the Party , if they get any sense by then .
Why does a bunch in the Congress desire Rahul to be the President escapes me. His mother has done exemplary work in keeping the flock together and will furthermore do sterling work if she agrees be there for the new crop of leaders outside the dynasty. But there is one criterion namely, Rahul should be kept out, he is too immature for life in general, let alone the hurly burly of politics.
Sycophants
The very fact that SOnia is in and out of hospitals proves that its time to elect a new President.
But Rahul cannot understand simple logic.
I know right? Also, it will always be ill-timed considering the absolute mess that is INC right now. The people who are defending the filthy clan are just either their puppets like former PM actor or they are just sucking up to the clan to get more licenses for future opportunities of corruption. I only respect Gulam Nabi Azad from this bunch, the rest are just idiots.
The people of India demand that the Gandhis stay as leaders of Congress and keep sacrificing for the country.