AHMEDABAD: A day after senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal raised questions over the functioning of the party and former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh's meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the party leaders must not go public with the internal matters as it hurts the ground level workers.
Asserting that the Congress gives enough freedom to its leaders to express their views, he said internal matters should not be discussed publicly for the sake of "discipline" and that they should be raised on a proper platform only.
"Crores of Congress workers are in pain due to such acts. Senior party leaders should discuss such matters on a proper platform, not in public. There is a difference between BJP and Congress. While there is no ban on free speech in our party, our leaders need to put their opinion on a proper platform," said Khera during his interaction with mediapersons here.
"Suppose you have a family dispute, would you prefer to solve it internally or go to your neighbour's terrace and speak about it? There should be discipline, which is necessary to run a family, an organisation and a country," he added.
While addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Kapil Sibal, who is part of the "Group of 23" that had written to Sonia Gandhi last year demanding an organisational overhaul, had raised questions on the party's high command in the wake of the events unfolding in Punjab, saying that the party workers did not know who was taking decisions in the absence of a full-time president.
When asked about Amarinder Singh's meeting with Amit Shah days after the former's resignation as the Punjab CM, Khera expressed unhappiness claiming that Singh's act had hurt the party workers.
"Internal issues should be discussed internally. What was the need to meet when you can talk over the phone. Congress workers, who are fighting against the BJP government and its billionaire friends, are pained to see our own people doing this. I am just sharing the anguish of all those ground level workers with you," Khera said.