Four Congress leaders, who were part of the 23 signatories of a letter sent to party interim President Sonia Gandhi in August seeking reforms, have now spoken out against recent actions of some of the others in the group, suggesting that “boundaries” should be maintained, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday.
Former Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien, Lok Sabha MP Sandeep Dikshit, Congress leader in Madhya Pradesh Ajay Singh, and former Union minister M Veerappa Moily voiced their reservations against certain actions, including former MP Ghulam Nabi Azad’s praises for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the newspaper reported.
“Their activities are alright to the extent of strengthening the Congress,” Kurien told The Indian Express. “But it should not become a dissident activity. “...I am not against efforts to strengthen and rectify the Congress...But the boundaries...should be kept in mind.”
The comment came after a section of G 23, as the grouping of leaders who wrote to Gandhi in August came to be called, held a meeting in Jammu last week. Azad, former Union ministers Kapil Sibal and Anand Sharma, Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha, Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda attended the meeting on February 27. in the meeting, Sibal said that the Congress was “getting weak” and criticised the party’s decision to allow Azad to retire from the Parliament. On the very next day, Azad praised Modi, claiming that he never hides his true self from others.
Dikshit said that it was best to ask Azad about his comments on Modi. “I have not been in touch with them,” he said, according to The Indian Express. However, he expressed displeasure with the meeting in Jammu. “...these five to six [Congress leaders] must be doing something,” Dikshit said. “I, for example, have no idea. It is not a group. It is just a collection of people who expressed an opinion. We stand by that opinion. What individuals would do or groups within the groups would do or others would do… that is their concern.”
Ajay Singh also said that he was not interested in praising the prime minister, adding that he was not invited for the meeting in Jammu. “The letter we signed was for internal party democracy of which I still hold that it is right.... The rest everybody is entitled to their own opinion,” he told The Indian Express. He also asserted that he had complete faith in Sonia Gandhi’s leadership, as stated in the letter.
Meanwhile, Moily said that this was not the appropriate time to discuss matters pertaining to the party as elections were to be held in multiple states. He said that after the memorandum of the 23 Congress leaders, Sonia Gandhi immediately held a Working Committee meeting. “It was also decided to hold the elections. That was enough. That is the only limited agenda.”
Moily also said that he was not invited for the Jammu meeting, and that he did not want to be part of “any dissident groups”.
What is G 23?
In August, at least 23 Congress leaders, including Sibal, Shashi Tharoor, Prithviraj Chavan and Milind Deora, had written to Sonia Gandhi, asking for a complete revamp of the party’s organisation. Tharoor had also called for holding elections to appoint the party chief. He had, however, maintained that the elections should be held if Rahul Gandhi does not wish to take over as the party president.
In December, Sonia Gandhi had met the dissenters in a bid to address the crisis plaguing the party. Last month, it was decided that a new Congress chief would be elected in June.
On January 22, the Congress had announced that it will have a new elected president by June. The announcement was made by Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal after a meeting of the party’s working committee.
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