Congress Dissenter Kapil Sibal claims higher purpose as coup against Sonia Gandhi stymied

Despite being outmaneuvered in their attempt to coerce the Gandhis to appoint a 'non-Gandhi chief' and the dissenters reaffirming their 'faith' in the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, it seems the chaos in Congress is far from over. Taking to Twitter, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal - one of the dissenters, who on Monday, went all guns blazing on former party chief Rahul Gandhi only to eventually withdraw his statement - has said that the matter is about his country. In a two-line response to Congress party again selecting Sonia Gandhi as their interim chief until next AICC session, Sibal said that it is not about a post, adding that country matters the most.

It is to be noted here that Kapil Sibal was among the 23 signatories who wrote the letter to Sonia Gandhi seeking revival of Congress with a change in its top leadership. He also openly lashed out at Rahul Gandhi after it came to light that the latter had accused the dissenters of being in 'cahoots with the BJP'. Sibal, however, took back his statement stating that 'Rahul Gandhi personally conveyed to him that he never said what was attributed to him' as the Congress undertook damage control.

READ | Leaders Seeking 'Congress Revamp' Affirm Faith In Rahul & Sonia Gandhi's Leadership: ANI 

Additionally, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha took to Twitter on Tuesday and said that those who wrote the letter are not 'dissenters' but 'proponents of revival'. In what seemed a face-saver from the chaos that spilt out in open on Monday, Tankha added that the letter was not a challenge to leadership but a 'parchment of action to strengthen the party.' Notably, Karti Chidambaram has retweeted Tankha's view. 

READ | Shiv Sena warns ally Congress after CWC mess; tells Rahul & Sonia to rein in their flock

High-octane Monday chaos in Congress

23 leaders including the likes of Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Milind Deora, had written to party's interim-Chief Sonia Gandhi emphasising the need for the active revival of the party and raised questions about the party's condition and direction, demanding an internal election to the CWC even at state levels, the formation of an Independent Election Authority, and institutional leadership mechanism, full-time leadership at the helm. The five-page letter - drafted by two senior leaders, seeks to elect a 'non-Gandhi' chief as pointed out by the dissenting leaders in the CWC meeting. Apart from signatories, over 300 Congress workers support it.

READ | Chidambaram predicts brighter future for Congress, says 'discontent brings about change'

As CWC meeting began on Monday, sources reported that Sonia Gandhi offered to step down, whereas Rahul Gandhi expressed his displeasure at the dissenting letter. An all-out war broke out between Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal and the Wayanad MP after the latter said that the dissenters were 'in cahoots with the BJP', which prompted Sibal to lash out on Twitter and Azad to offer to resign. However, first Sibal and later Azad withdrew their statements after assurances from Rahul Gandhi, with Surjewala and some others attempting to deny Rahul Gandhi had ever made the allegations of collusion. Almost 8 hours after the meeting began, the concluding remarks of Rahul Gandhi at the CWC were that he was pained to see the letter as his mother was in the hospital - something he had said earlier as well.

The temporary end to the day-long drama came with Sonia Gandhi continuing to be the 'interim' chief of the grand-old party, till fresh elections are held by AICC in the next six months. A 5-point resolution waxing lyrical about Sonia and Rahul Gandhi was issued, wholly non-commensurate to the scope and size of the meeting. Question marks still remain over the divide within Congress ranks as a number of leaders who had been signatories to the letter huddled at Ghulam Nabi Azad's residence after the meeting.

READ | Sonia Gandhi to continue as Congress interim-chief till fresh AICC elections are held