BENGALURU: By quickly rallying behind Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, senior leaders on Monday managed to defer an intra-Congress crisis which threatened to rock the party, even as it is yet to fully recover from back-to-back electoral defeats, and take on the BJP government at the Centre.
However, some in the party feel the leadership should have taken the initiative to talk to the senior leaders who wrote the letter two weeks ago, so the entire episode could have been avoided.
The demand – or request – made by 23 senior Congress leaders in a letter, which appeared to be one of internal dissent, was only to press for a full-fledged party president at the national level, a senior arty leader said, adding that the party leadership should have immediately taken the 23 leaders -- which included Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal and Veerappa Moily -- into confidence to understand their concerns behind writing the letter.
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However, senior party leader BL Shankar said when Rahul Gandhi resigned in 2019 after the Lok Sabha elections, owning responsibility for the party’s defeat, he had asked the party to choose the next president.
It was the responsibility of the CWC and AICC to choose a president, and Sonia, Rahul or any other leader cannot be blamed for it, he said.
While the crisis exposed apparent differences among top party leaders, Congress leaders in Karnataka hope the party will emerge stronger after the current crisis.
“All minor issues will be resolved and the party will emerge much stronger,” said KPCC Working President Eshwar Khandre.
“Congress workers across the country want Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to lead the party, and yet again their wish has been proved right.”