Some leaders feel Rahul Gandhi is remote controlling the party.
New Delhi:
The letter from the 20-odd senior Congress leaders, which called for a thorough overhaul of the party leadership — basing it on internal election at every level — is not a criticism of the Gandhis, the leaders said. “We have not criticised Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi, but we want a complete overhaul of the Congress party in its management and style,” a senior leader said.
The letter came at the end of a six-year decline of the party that started with the crushing defeat in the 2014 general election. Over the recent weeks, there has been a rumble of criticism and demand for reforms from a section of leaders that include party veterans like Anand Sharma, Veerappa Moily, Kapil Sibal and Shashi Tharoor and young leaders like Jitin Prasada and Milind Deora.
“Somebody has to bell the cat,” one of the Congress leaders who signed the letter told NDTV on condition of anonymity.
The letter, dated August 7, was written just before the Congress was able to broker a truce between Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot, mainly through the efforts of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The loss of focus by the leadership was showing with the party’s poor performance in elections. In the letter, the lack of introspection and discussion were shown as reason why the party is failing to perform.
The unrest within the party started to show as Rahul Gandhi started his own narrative and attacks against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a number of issues, ranging from the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic to the Chinese incursion.
Some leaders feel Rahul Gandhi is remote controlling the party and making all appointments and decisions and yet, he is not accountable or taking responsibility.
They said despite his resignation and his hands-off attitude, he still controls the affairs of the party and must come clean and state whether he wants to lead the party. If not, a collective leadership must take charge and overhaul the internal workings of the party, they contended.
The leaders also pointed out that their letter is not a revolt like the one Sharad Pawar, PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar carried out in the Congress Working Committee in 1999, after which they were expelled. This is a genuine effort to clean out the stables and help the Congress be relevant and be seen as an alternative to the BJP, they said.
