BJP mocks 'weakest opposition' Congress as infighting continues over Rahul Gandhi's remark

A massive war has broken out in the Congress after former party chief Rahul Gandhi during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Monday alleged that the dissenting party members who wrote the letter asking Sonia Gandhi to step down as the interim president are "in cahoots with the BJP." 

As the party appears to crumble owing to the internal rift caused by Rahul Gandhi, the BJP has launched a scathing attack at Congress, terming it as the ‘weakest ‘opposition party. Taking a dig at the Congress top brass, BJP Vice President Uma Bharati said even the smallest worker in her party would be better than Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra. She further said that BJP can provide them with a proper worker if needed.

“Even our smallest worker would be better than Rahul and Priyanka. We have the weakest opposition in the form of Congress,” she said commenting on the ongoing crisis in the party.

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Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also said that Congress is a ‘waning’ party as it levels allegations against its own members which leads to its failures.

“(Jyotiraditya) Scindia talked about corruption and they (Congress) accused him. Those who are loyal, they are called traitors in Congress. No one can save a party like this,” he said.

Miffed by Rahul Gandhi's alleged remarks, senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad, one of the signatories of the letter, offered to resign if the former's statement turns out to be true, sources said. Even Gandhi loyalist Kapil Sibal said that he has never made a statement in favour of BJP on any issue yet Rahul Gandhi said, "we are colluding with BJP".

However, Sibal backtracked on his comments after he was "informed by Rahul Gandhi personally" that he never said what was attributed to him, even as Randeep Surjewala made a u-turn.

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An explosive letter leads to a war in Congress

The 23 Congress leaders who wrote the 'letter of dissent' are - Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, Vivek Tankha, Marpadi 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 (UP), Arvinder Singh Lovely (Delhi), Kaul Singh Thakur (Himachal Pradesh), Akhilesh Prasad Singh (Bihar), former Haryana Speaker Kuldeep Sharma and former Delhi Speaker Yoganand Shastri.

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The letter called for 'full time' active leadership, sweeping reforms and raising questions about the party's condition and direction, as well as demanding the election of the CWC.

Republic TV sources said that the reason behind the rebellious attitude of the old leaders for Rahul Gandhi is that the Wayanad MP wants new CWC by dissolving the old one. He also wants to replace the old General Secretaries with the new ones, sources said. Sources also said that following Rahul Gandhi's allegations, four party leaders went offline.

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