Siddaramaiah said Congress members should collectively strive to strengthen the party. (File)
Bengaluru:
Former chief minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah on Sunday said that it is unfortunate that the leadership of Gandhi family is being questioned by a few people.
“It is unfortunate that the leadership of Gandhi family is being questioned by few. In these difficult times of undeclared emergency and attack on democracy by @BJP4India, we should collectively strive to strengthen @INCIndia & not weaken it,” Mr Siddaramaiah tweeted.
Ahead of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting scheduled to be held on Monday, an internal dispute has emerged regarding “leadership” issues in the party.
Reportedly several senior Congress leaders have written to party interim President Sonia Gandhi raising a five Point Agenda to revive the Party, emphasising the need for active leadership in the party and raising questions about the party’s condition and direction, as well as demanding the election of the Congress Working Committee.
According to sources, some members of the CWC, MPs and leaders wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi in which they have raised many questions and suggestions about the functioning of the party. It is being said that a five-page letter drafted by two senior leaders and then discussed and signed by others has not openly criticised either Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi but it is being seen as a distrust and charge sheet against the party high command, especially Rahul Gandhi.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tiwari, Shashi Tharoor, Jitin Prasad, Veerappa Moily, Sandeep Dikshit, Pramod Tiwari, PJ Kurien are being named as signatories on this letter. However, none of these leaders are accepting that they are signatories to the communication.
While the Congress has also denied that it has received any such letter, sources in the party said this exercise has been done from the state level where former PCC Presidents are involved. On the condition of anonymity, a leader involved in the process told ANI that the attempt is not against the leadership of Gandhis. “The group of leaders who have written the letter do not agree on all points but the party needs to discuss the issues and leadership issue should be finalised. If Rahul Gandhi is ready to accept the party President post I will be the first person to welcome it wholeheartedly,” the leader said.
Although there may not be an official confirmation of this letter, reactions to it have started. Reacting sharply to the media report related to the letter, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam called it a conspiracy against Rahul Gandhi.
“This letter is a new conspiracy to undermine the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. The conspiracy which used to be held in closed rooms has emerged in a letter. The only answer is, Rahul ji should leave his stubbornness of not taking up the post of President. Leave the stubbornness and save the crumbling walls of the Congress in the states. Only those can save the Congress,” he said.
There is a possibility of dispute in the CWC meeting, to be held through video conferencing at 11 am on Monday, regarding the letter written in the name of Sonia Gandhi.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
