NEW DELHI: Swords are out in the Congress ahead of presidential elections with party leaders seeking action against colleagues who have spoken against the Gandhis and met former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad after his scathing attack on the leadership following his exit.
Former Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja has written to AICC in charge of Haryana Vivek Bansal that a notice is issued to Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress Legislature Party leader in Haryana, on his recent meeting with Azad, to know his intention for the meeting.
Virender Vashisht, AICC Secretary in Indian Overseas Congress, has written to party disciplinary committee head Tariq Anwar seeking action against former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chauhan for making statements against Rahul Gandhi.
Early this week Hooda along with Chavan and Anand Sharma, all three members of the G23 faction, met Azad at the latter’s residence. The leaders discussed the presidential polls, Azad’s public meeting in Jammu on Sep 4, which coincides with the Congress price rise rally in Delhi, and his plans to form a new party in Jammu and Kashmir ahead of assembly elections.
Azad has been attacking the Gandhis alleging that Rahul Gandhi has demolished the consultative mechanism in the party, sidelined all senior party leaders, and let a new coterie of inexperienced sycophants run the party.
The demand for action comes when some party leaders, the majority from the G23 faction, have raised concerns about the transparency in presidential elections. Anand Sharma, who has resigned as chairman of the steering committee in election-bound Himachal Pradesh, along with Lok Sabha MPs Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, and Karti Chidambaram have demanded that the electoral rolls be made public to ensure transparency in the Congress presidential election process.
Speaking to the media, Chavan has said that the party would not survive if someone is made a puppet president and that election should be held for all posts. He went on to say that “I have met Sonia Gandhi whenever I sought time, but I have not been able to meet Rahul Gandhi for a long time.”
Chavan, a member of the G23 faction, has been upset with the party leadership as he was sidelined during the Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress alliance government in Maharashtra.