Two masterminds of Congress dissent letter not among 23 signatories; claiming neutrality

On Monday, top sources told Republic TV that the letter of dissent by 23 senior Congress leaders is the brainchild of two party functionaries who are not signatories to the letter. The two Congress leaders who have facilitated the dissenting letter have distanced themselves from either camp for now. Sources added that one of the aforesaid leaders is not even present in Delhi. Reportedly, the leaders behind the letter are pretending to be neutral. It is perceived that the fight between the two camps is expected to escalate.

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Dissenting letter

Reportedly, several Congress leaders wrote to the Congress president on August 12 calling for sweeping changes in the party's functioning. The 23 leaders who have signed the letter are Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, Vivek Tankha, M Veerappa Moily, Mukul Wasnik, Jitin Prasada, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Prithviraj Chavan,  PJ Kurian, Ajay Singh, Renuka Chaudhary, Milind Deora, Sandeep Dixit, Raj Babbar, Arvinder Singh Lovely, Kaul Singh Thakur, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, former Haryana Speaker Kuldeep Sharma and former Delhi Speaker Yoganand Shastri. 

They observed that the uncertainly over the leadership and the drift in the party have weakened Congress and demoralized the workers. The letter reportedly mentioned many suggestions such as the need for a full-time leadership available at the national and state headquarters, conducting elections at all levels including the Congress Working Committee and state level, the formation of an Independent Election Authority, and institutional leadership mechanism to guide the party's revival. 

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War of words at CWC meeting

At the beginning of the Congress Working Committee meeting, interim president Sonia Gandhi offered to resign. However, former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and ex-Defence Minister urged her to continue as president of the Congress party. Speaking at the meeting, Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi lamented that the dissenting letter had been sent at a time when his mother was in the hospital. Thereafter, he reportedly accused the signatories to the letter of colluding with BJP. 

As per sources, 4 senior Congress leaders logged off from the CWC meeting in protest against the former party president's remarks. Sources revealed that Rahul Gandhi's camp has said that the details of the letter should not have been released to the media. It has also been alleged that the 23 dissenting members “betrayed” Congress by going to the media. After Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Azad took objection to Gandhi's allegation, Congress went into damage control mode. According to sources, the Wayanad MP spoke to Sibal after which the latter decided to withdraw his tweet. 

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