Some Congress dissenters now say "sorry" to Sonia Gandhi; others hold their ground

The upheaval in Congress seeking 'organizational reforms', 'revival of party' and a 'non-Gandhi chief' has taken a twist for a group of dissenting netas with one group now claiming themselves to be 'proponents of change' rather than 'dissenters' and even going to the extent of saying sorry to Sonia Gandhi. 

M Veerappa Moily, one of the 23 senior Congress leaders who signed the letter seeking reforms, on Wednesday, said that the leaders are sorry if they have hurt Sonia Gandhi's feelings. Moreover, he asserted that they have never questioned her leadership, but stressed that there is a need for rejuvenating and restructuring the party. He also said that none of 23 leaders have any intention to leave the Congress.

"We have never questioned the leadership of Soniaji. Soniaji is like a mother to the party. We revere her even now. There is no question of any intention to hurt her feelings. If we have hurt her (Sonia Gandhi's) feelings, we are sorry for it," Moily told news agency Press Trust of India in an interview.

The former Karnataka Chief Minister Moily also said that Sonia Gandhi in her concluding remarks at the CWC meeting expressed that she does not hold anything or any kind of ill-will against any of her colleagues irrespective of how hurtful were the remarks made by them.

Sonia Gandhi will continue to remain Congress interim chief till the next AICC session. Sonia Gandhi was made interim chief a year ago after Rahul Gandhi resigned from the position taking moral responsibility for the party's disastrous performance in the Lok Sabha elections.

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Day-long drama on Monday

23 leaders had written to party's interim Chief Sonia Gandhi emphasising the need for the active revival of the party. As the 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. 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. 

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Chaos far from over

Taking to Twitter on August 25, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal - one of the dissenters,  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.

Additionally, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha 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. 

Senior party leader Anand Sharma also tagged Tankha's tweet and said, "The letter was written with the best interest of the party in our hearts and conveying shared concerns over the present environment in the country and sustained assault on the foundational values of the constitution."

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

On Monday, Rajya Sabha MP P Chidambaram exuded confidence in Congress emerging stronger after 23 senior party leaders expressed their dissent. According to him, discontent was instrumental for change. Asserting that no one alleged that some Congress leaders were colluding with BJP, Chidambaram revealed that some issues had already been addressed by the party. 

The signatories of the letter were Ghulam Nabi Azad, Moily, Sibal, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, Wasnik, Vivek  Tankha, PJ Kurian, Renuka Chaudhary, Milind Deora, Ajay Singh, Jitin Prasada, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Rajender Kaur Bhattal and Prithviraj Chavan; former PCC chiefs Raj Babbar (UP), Arvinder Singh Lovely (Delhi) and Kaul Singh Thakur (Himachal); current Bihar campaign chief Akhilesh Singh, former Haryana Speaker Kuldeep Sharma; former Delhi Speaker Yoganand Shastri and former MP Sandeep Dixit. 

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