India

Congress Advisory Committee meeting to discuss internal party squabbles cancelled. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary says Kapil Sibal may join other party

The infighting in the Congress party seems to have come to the fore with the senior Congress leader and MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary today unambiguously accusing the another senior leader and supreme court advocate Kapil Sibal for being totally absent during the campaigning in Bihar elections and in Madhya Pradesh etc and criticizing the party in the public creating embarrasing situation. He added that if Sibal is so worried about the rejuvenation of Congress, he should have proved his mettle by campaigning for Congress n in other by-elections in Madhya Pradesh etc but he was absent altogether.

Member of Parliament from Berhampore West Bengal, close to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, outspoken Congress leader coming to the rescue of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary while accusing senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal of destabilising the party said that those criticizing Congress n embarrassing the party leaders are free to form their own party or may join some other progressive political party, giving an unambiguous signal to Sibal that he has the full backing of the Congress president Sonia n Rahul Gandhi to show the rebel senior leader ( Sibal) the door.

Adhir Ranjan added that Sr Congress leaders close to Sonia Gandhi has the right to speak to her and share their views referring to Kapil Sibal’s demand for rejuvenation of the Congress party, in view of its becoming weak day by day, but asked where were they in the Bihar election to prove their mettle ? Earlier, senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad who was took the lead to question Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s leadership through a letter was sidelined and devoid of the general secretary’s post held by him for long in the AICC’s rejig several months ago in which Kapil too was a prominent signatory among other leaders.

Had they been so serious n concerned for the party they would have visited the states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh n Uttar Pradesh etc and proved their mettle said Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary speaking to media.

Where was he and his workers when election of Bihar was taking place he quipped ?

It may be recalled that Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who is feeling frustrated in the Congress for having been sidelined by the party high command has on Monday in an interview to Indian Express has clearly said that the time for introspection in the Congress is over and and the Congress party must be willing to recognise them.

Kapil Sibal said that there is no forum in the party to air my views thus compelling me to speak in the public accusing the leadership of absence of inner party democracy in Cingress.

He specifically added that the outcome of the performance of Congress in Bihar and other by-elections are still to be assessed and views of the leaders are expected. But nobody has uttered a single word said the rebel leader.

May be they think ( reference to Sonia n Rahul their coterie) that all is well and it’s a business as usual despite facing such a shameful debacle in Bihar n by-elections.

It may be recalled that few months ago Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal and several other Congress leaders have shot a letter to Sonia Gandhi for introspection and rejuvenation of the party by changing the leadership creating quite a furore in the party especially those leaders who are close to the Gandhi family.

Meanwhile, the Congress advisory committee meeting scheduled to be held in the evening to discuss differences amongst senior leaders within the party, has been cancelled abruptly.

The sudden cancellation of the high level meeting to be chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi n attended by Dr. Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, AK Antony n other senior leaders has raised several questions about the increasing internal squabbles within the party, particularly after Kapil Sibal’s interview to a newspaper expressing his rebellion and the party’s debacle in Bihar n several by-elections in Madhya Pradesh n Gujarat etc.

It may be recalled that the high level Congress Advisory Committee had be constituted by interim president Sonia Gandhi to assist her in the AICC affairs etc consisting of former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, AK Antony, K.C. Venugopal, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik n Randeep Singh Surjewala. Party’s treasurer n fmr political secretary to Sonia Gandhi Ahmed Patel is on ventilator in critical state in Medanta Hospital after having been admitted since October after being infected with Covid 19. The Congress party is currently a divided house with one group opposing Sonia Gandhi to continue as it’s president favouring election of the new president democratically while the other group strongly favour continuation of Gandhi family at the helm. However, efforts are on for election of Rahul Gandhi in the party’s national convention to be held in next few months but voices of rebellion within the party are being heard occasionally, with Kapil Sibal raising his head while Ghulam Nabi Azad going into the silent mode temporarily.

Tags

Sunil Negi

Sunil Negi is a senior journalist and president of Uttarakhand Journalists Forum ( Regd). He usually writes on socio political subjects and have been contributing articles in print media for the last several years. Mr. Sunil Negi had been felicitated by All India Achievers conference's Pride of India and excellence awards apart from several other recognitions. He has translated a book on ecological disaster of Uttarakhand of June 2013 and edited and published two editions of Uttaranchal's Who's Who.

Related Articles

Back to top button
Close