NEW DELHI: Many leaders of Congressโ dissident G-23 group demanded a โcollective and inclusive leadershipโ in the party following a meeting at the residence of former Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad here on Wednesday evening.
The leaders demanded the Congress party to initiate a dialog with โlike-minded forcesโ to create a platform to provide people with a โcredible alternativeโ in the general elections scheduled to be held in 2024.
The meeting, that came just days after the partyโs humiliating defeat in assembly polls in five states saw the participation of senior Congress leaders Kapil Sibal, Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Raj Babbar, Prithviraj Chavan, Manishankar Aiyer, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Shankar Singh Vaghela, MA Khan, Sandeep Dikshit, Vivek Tankha, PJ Kurian, Kuldeep Sharma and Preneet Kaur.
In a join statement, the leaders said that they deliberated โon the demoralizing outcome of the recent results of the assembly elections and the constant exodus of both our workers and leaders.โ
โWe believe that the only way forward is for the Congress to adopt the model of collective, inclusive leadership and decision making at all levels,โ they said, adding that the grand old party needed to be strengthened to defeat the BJP.
On Sunday, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) discussed the partyโs massive drubbing in recently concluded assembly elections in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi asked state unit chiefs of the five states to submit their resignation.
Gandhi has also constituted a team comprising of Ajay Maken, Rajani Patil, Jitendra Singh, Jairam Ramesh and Avinash Pandey to assess the reason behind its defeat in the recent elections and suggest organisational changes.
