NEW DELHI: The drubbing in the recently concluded assembly elections in the five states to the Congress has once again brought focus on the G-23 leaders, who two years ago wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi demanding an active leadership.
A meeting of the CWC, considered to be the highest decision making body of the grand old party, took place yesterday at the party headquarters here, which was attended by several party leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Mallikarjun Kharge, P Chidambaram, Ambika Soni and leaders from G-23 Mukuk Wasnik, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma in attendance.
The massive rout for the Congress in elections in five states has revived searing criticism of the Gandhi family.
The G-23 dissenter leaders had held a meeting on Friday at the house of Azad with leaders including Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari joining the meeting.
Earlier in the day, several party workers gathered outside party headquarters and raised slogans in favour of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, even as G-23 members — Wasnik, Sharma and Azad — arrived for the meeting.
One of the dissidents of the G-23 group, Vivek Tankha, took to twitter and wrote, “Time to think! Not what the party do for you, but what you can do for the party. Appeal to CWC, re-build the idea of India once again. We have talent and reach. What we need is a collective endeavour. Let’s do it. We can do it.”
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The grand old party lost in Punjab to AAP, could not wrest Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur from the BJP and the party’s tally in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh fell to its lowest.
Ahead of the CWC meeting, the Jharkhand Congress passed a resolution in support of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.
Following the rout in elections, there is a simmering tension in the Congress and the leaders are miffed with the functioning style of the leadership.
After the loss, Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala at a presser at party headquarters said that they will analyse the poll loss.
This is not the first loss. The party has already lost crucial polls in Kerala and Assam where the party could have won.
After poll results, Tharoor on March 10 tweeted: “All of us who believe in Congress are hurting from the results of the recent assembly elections. It is time to reaffirm the idea of India that the Congress has stood for and the positive agenda it offers the nation.
“And to reform our organisational leadership in a manner that will re-ignite those ideas and inspire the people. One thing is clear – Change is unavoidable if we need to succeed.”
Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said he accepts the people’s verdict and congratulated the winning parties.