Congress could once again be split into two! This time, by dissident senior party leaders who seek sweeping reforms to give a booster dose to the dwindling public support to the grand old party. It, however, would depend on the Assembly elections results in five states and Union Territories scheduled to be declared on May 2.
According to a report by TV channel ABP News, the G23, as the group of senior 23 leaders is popularly known, is mulling to float a new political party. Last month, they held a meeting to discuss the idea of floating a new political party, the channel reported quoting sources.
Some of the leaders, however, opposed the idea and said splitting the party was never their intention when they came together to write a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for an organizational overhaul.
Some leaders of the group told the new channel that they are expecting Congress to do well in the Assembly elections and the idea of a new party could be shelved or junked. But if the party does not perform well and continues to lose its voter base, the leaders would take "some important steps".
What is G23?
G23 is a group of 23 senior and old-time Congressmen who came together to write a letter to Sonia Gandhi in August last year, requesting her to undertake several important steps including active leadership, organizational rejig.
In the letter, the leaders highlighted Congress's debacles in successive polls and demanded some sweeping reforms in the party.
Among the prominent faces of G23 are -- Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal, Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tiwari, Anand Sharma, PJ Kurien, Renuka Chaudhary, Milind Deora, Mukul Wasnik, Jitin Prasada, Bhupendra Singh Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan. Many of them were ministers in Central government, chief ministers, and party's state unit heads.
What happened after their letter?
After the letter was reported by the media, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi called a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, the highest decision-making body of India's oldest political party. Instead of discussing and resolving their apprehensions and demands, several Congress leaders, particularly those close to the Gandhi family, attacked the letter writers, with some of them being called Jaichand.
According to the ABP report, the leaders are perturbed over the manner in which they were attacked and portrayed as anti-party.
Since then, the leaders have not been involved in elections by the party even as they made statements in media saying they are ready to undertake any assignment party gave them. None of them was sent for campaigning in the Bihar Assembly elections. They continue to remain sidelined by the party.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, was not resent to the House after his tenure ended. Instead, he faced protests in Jammu by party workers for being praised by PM Narendra Modi during his farewell speech in the Rajya Sabha.
Many G23 leaders feel they have been misunderstood by the party and have been pushed to the point of no return.
