Kapil Sibal lashes out at Congress for targetting Jitin Prasada as UP unit seeks action

Siding with Rahul Gandhi's peer Jitin Prasada, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, reprimanded the party for targetting Prasada by an Uttar Pradesh party unit. Taking to Twitter, Sibal said that the party should 'target the BJP with surgical strikes instead of wasting its energy by targeting its own', to which Manish Tiwari tweeted 'prescient'. Sibal, Prasada and Tewari are one of the 23 leaders who had signed a letter, seeking 'structural revamp of the Congress', hinting at a non-Gandhi Congress president.

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UP Congress unit targets Prasada

Earlier on Wednesday, UP Congress' Lakhimpur unit passed a resolution seeking strict action against all 23 signatories- singling out Prasada by name. The resolution claims that Prasada is the only UP letter who signed the letter and alleged that Prasada and his family have been against the Gandhis - recalling how Jitendra Prasada (Jitin's father) had challenged Sonia Gandhi's election as party chief in 1999. The resolution adds that inspite of this, his son was given a Lok Sabha ticket and made a minister in the UPA regime.

In response, reports state that Congress has denounced the resolution as it did not have  onia Gandhi or UP General secretary - Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's signature. Prasada's father had unsuccessfully bid for party chief in 199 against Sonia Gandhi; he died two years later. Meanwhile, his son - Jitin was Shahajanpur Lok Sabha MP in 2004 and held ministerial posts like - MoS Steel, MoS Road Transport and Highways, and MoS HRD in UPA- 1 & 2.

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Congress squashes dissent

Quashing all internal dissent, Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Monday, retained Sonia Gandhi as party chief till elections are called for in the next AICC meeting. Moreover, it passed a resolution strengthening the Gandhis' leadership and not allowing anyone to undermine the party or the Gandhis (Rahul and Sonia). When asked if action will be taken on the 23 dissenters, CWC said that Sonia Gandhi was hurt, but did not hold any grudges against them.

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The 23 senior leaders sought 'structural changes', 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 at the party.  The 23 signatories include Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Rajender Kaur Bhattal, M. Veerappa Moily, Prithviraj Chavan, P.J. Kurian, Ajay Singh, Renuka Chaudhary, and Milind Deora -  belonging from the Congress' 'old guard ' and the 'young guard' (i.e Rahul Gandhi supporters). Apart from these signatories, over 300 Congress workers support it.