NEW DELHI: With senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma missing from the party’s Rajya Sabha list, there is a strong buzz that Sonia Gandhi had offered a top party position to Azad but he politely turned it down.
Azad and Sharma, part of the G23 ginger group that wrote to Sonia Gandhi seeking organisational revamp and internal elections, were reportedly probables for the berth in the Upper house but their names did not figure in the final list, leaving several party leaders guessing.
Sources said the Congress chief got in touch with Azad and offered him a top party position but he reportedly talked about the generational gap and how there is a big difference in the thinking of young and old leaderships.
Sources close to Azad said he was also offered a Rajya Sabha berth but he said the demand of G23 is for a
complete overhaul in the functioning of the party. There has been a buzz for a while that Azad is mulling to leave the party or float his own outfit in Jammu and Kashmir.
In the case of Sharma, there were rumours that he will join the saffron camp as he was upset over denial of Rajya Sabha ticket. He later called the rumours “political mischief” and said he will continue to work for the party. There has been rumbling in the grand old party since the distribution of tickets for the Upper House election and several leaders have expressed their reservations about the ticket distribution by the party.