Nine expelled Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh have written to party president Sonia Gandhi, asking her to “rise above the affinity for the family” and lead by establishing mutual trust and restoring the constitutional and democratic values, PTI reported on Sunday. “If you deviate from your responsibility, then Congress will become a thing of the past,” they said.
Last month, a controversy erupted after a similar letter was written by 23 Congress leaders and included former chief ministers such as Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Prithviraj Chavan, former ministers Shashi Tharoor, and Milind Deora and Jitin Prasada. They questioned the party’s style of functioning, demanded collective leadership and called for “a full time and visible” party chief. It was seen as direct challenge to Gandhi’s authority over organisational matters. Following this, Gandhi reportedly offered to resign, but the Congress Working Committee in a resolution said that she will continue to be the interim chief of the party after a marathon virtual meeting.
In the letter dated September 2, the nine Congress leaders said that former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi built the Congress and the country with a foundation of democratic values. “But it is ironical that, for some time the way in which the party is being run, there is confusion and depression among ordinary party workers,” they wrote.
“When the country’s democratic values and social fabric is lying scattered, the need of the country is that Congress remain alive, dynamic and strong,” the letter added. “Please rise above the affinity for the family, and as per traditions, restore the expression of thoughts, constitutional and democratic values, and run the organisation by establishing communication and mutual trust.”
The expelled party leaders warned that if the leadership deviates from its responsibility, the Congress will become “a thing of the past”. “Today, the Congress is facing uncertainty, indecisiveness, lack of communication, and lack of expression of thoughts, and is passing through a difficult phase of existential crisis,” they said.
The signatories of the letter include former MP Santosh Singh and former minister Satyadev Tripathi. Singh and Tripathi were among the 10 senior leaders, who were expelled from the primary membership of the Congress in November last year for six years. They were accused of tarnishing the party’s image and opposing decisions taken by leaders at public forums.
The other expelled leaders who signed the letter are Siraj Mehdi (former MLC), Bhudhar Narayan Mishra (former MLA), Vinod Chaudhary (former MLA), Nek Chandra Pandey (former MLA), Swayam Prakash Goswami (former chairperson of Youth Congress), Rajendra Singh Solanki and Sanjeev Singh.
In their letter to Gandhi, the party leaders referred to their expulsion and alleged that the Congress’ disciplinary committee has refused to hear their grievances. “It is almost one year [since the expulsion], but despite requests we were not given time by the [state unit of the] party,” the letter said. “The party’s central disciplinary committee is also not listening to anything. It seems the Congress office is locked.”
The also wrote that the disciplinary committee of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit cannot expel them since they are members of the All India Congress Committee.
On Sunday evening, the Uttar Pradesh Congress announced seven committees for the upcoming 2022 Assembly elections in the state. Notably, some leaders who were among the 23 signatories to the letter asking for the overhaul of the party have been left out of the committees.
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