NEW DELHI: Battle lines are drawn in the Congress between those supporting the Nehru-Gandhis and those against their continuing at the helm ahead of the Congress Working Committee meeting scheduled Sunday.
The G23 group, a group of senior party leaders seeking immediate reforms and leadership change, is gearing to ask some tough questions during the meeting while loyalists of the Gandhis have questioned the intention of dissenting leaders as they rally behind the family saying the party cannot survive without them.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has convened the CWC, the party’s highest decision-making body, at 4 pm Sunday to dwell upon the party’s dismal performance in the assembly elections. The meeting is expected to see fireworks as Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi’s leadership skills and choice of core team members are likely to come under scanner after the party drew a blank in five states.
A senior party leader said it has to be seen if heads will roll at the CWC or it will end up without fixing responsibility and taking concrete steps. The party categorically denied rumours of Gandhis’ resignation, terming it as “completely unfair, mischievous, and incorrect”.
The tone for the meeting has already been set with loyalists targeting G23 leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, suggesting they had done nothing to strengthen the party other than publicly criticising the leadership at repeated intervals.
AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar said some people just looked for opportunities to attack the party when it is passing through a tough phase. “How can they be party’s well-wishers?” he said. Karnataka Congress in-charge DK Shivakumar defended the leadership saying that without the Gandhis, the Congress cannot stay united.
Calling for inner-party democracy, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, part of G23, in an article Saturday wrote that it would help if the party took steps to promote inner-party democracy and then rein in internal dissent.