Amid row, Rahul Gandhi feels 'dissenters betrayed Congress' by taking grouse to media

Amid the tumultuous Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Monday, sources said that Rahul Gandhi supporters feel that details of the letter should not have been leaked to the media. The former Congress chief allegedly feels that party members should have discussed the issues in the CWC and not to the media. Moreover, Rahul Gandhi camp feels betrayed by the senior Congress leaders who wrote the dissenting letter which has 23 signatories and over 300 Congress supporters.

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Rahul Vs dissenters in CWC

While most Congress 52 senior members attending the meeting insisted that Sonia Gandhi continue as interim-chief till Rahul Gandhi agrees to take over, both the Gandhis have allegedly refused - Sonia Gandhi has insisted on stepping down while Rahul Gandhi has reportedly remained mum on the issue. Apart from leadership woes, all-out war between some of the signatories - Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal and the Wayanad MP. Rahul Gandhi allegedly said that the dissenters were 'in cahoots with the BJP', which prompted Sibal to lash out and Azad to reportedly offer to resign. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala has clarified that no such statement was made by Gandhi.

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23 leaders seek 'structural changes', Sonia offers to resign

Hinting at apparent turmoil within the Grand old party, 23 senior leaders wrote to party's interim-Chief Sonia Gandhi emphasising the need for active leadership in the party and raised questions about the party's condition and direction, demanding an internal election to the CWC. The five-page letter - drafted by two senior leaders bears the signatures of leaders from the Congress' 'old guard ' and the 'young guard' (i.e Rahul Gandhi supporters). Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tiwari,  Anand Sharma, Shashi Tharoor, Jitin Prasad, Veerappa Moily, Pramod Tiwari, PJ Kurien, Sandeep Dikshit, as per sources.  Meanwhile, Congress has denied that it has received any such letter.

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On the other hand, backing the Gandhis, Punjab CM Capt. Amarinder Singh said this was not the time to raise such an issue, ahead of a crucial CWC meeting on Monday. Apart from Singh, several other Congress leaders like Salman Khurshid, Sanjay Nirupam, Siddaramaiah, Bhupesh Baghel, Ashok Gehlot, Balasaheb Thorat have also opposed this idea, while urging Rahul Gandhi to step into his mother's shoes as party chief. While Sonia Gandhi took over from Rahul Gandhi as party chief in August 2019, she has asked CWC members "to begin deliberations towards the process of transition to relieve her from the duty of party chief".

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