SRINAGAR: In a show of strength, Congress dissenters called the G-23 said the party had weakened in the past decade and vowed to work for strengthening and uniting the party.
“Today is an opportunity to tell the truth and the truth is that we see that the Congress party has weakened. We have assembled here and had also gathered earlier and we will unitedly strengthen the party,” senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said while addressing the Shanti Sammelan in Jammu on Saturday.
Besides Sibal, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Raj Babbar, Manish Tewari and Vivek Tankha addressed the sammelan, the first coming together of the dissident Congress leaders at a single platform.
Not happy with the party for not accommodating Azad in some capacity in the party, Sibal said, “When we felt that they were freeing Azad from parliament, we felt very bad. We felt he should not been freed from parliament. He is a very senior leader and I don’t understand why Congress is not utilizing services of Azad,” Sibal said.
Azad said with Gandhi’s ideology, they would fight the new struggle. “We will carry forward his ideology and self service of Gandhi will remain with us.” “I follow the path of truth and non violence and my politics was never based on religion or cast. When I became the CM of J&K, I told people that politics of religion should not be involved in the governance,” he said.
Sharma said all of them have reached the present position due to their hardwork and have not been parachuted. “I have not given the right to anybody to tell me whether we are Congressman or not. We can tell what the Congress is and we will strengthen the party.”Tewari said they came to Jammu to welcome Azad. “When the country is facing problems and changes are being made, we need Azad and his guidance to again take the boat to the bank.”