Will Anand Sharma be next in line to quit Congress? Will he be the next high-profile exit from the G-23 leaders or change-seekers from Congress after Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal?
Tweets from Sharma, a sulking Congress Working Committee member and a comrade-in-arms of Azad since the G-23 evolved, two hours after Azad's resignation letter on Friday surfaced, did not betray his plans but sources claimed he would be cutting short his tour of Himachal Pradesh and returning to Delhi on Friday late night.
Sharma is speculated to meet Azad on Saturday, a day before the CWC will be meeting to finalise the schedule for the Congress presidential election.
Sharma had resigned as the chairperson of Steering Committee of Himachal Congress last Sunday, days after Azad declined to take up assignments in Jammu and Kashmir citing non-consultation. Sharma too alleged that he was not being consulted despite him heading a panel.
Sharma told ANI soon after Azad's resignation that he was "shocked" and that the situation was "entirely avoidable". He said it would “pain all Congressmen” and that they were hopeful about a "serious introspection but unfortunately that process was subverted".
The group of 23 leaders had in August 2020 written to party president Sonia Gandhi concerned over the drift and leadership uncertainties. However, the group does not have the main leader with it, after Azad's exit from Congress.
Sibal and Azad, the prime movers of the G-23, have resigned from the party and are moving ahead. Those who had signed the letter earlier like M Veerappa Moily and Mukul Wasnik have distanced themselves from the group while Shashi Tharoor is said to have mended ways with the leadership.
Another prominent leader, Bhupinder Hooda, who has expressed his concern over Azad's resignation, has also been mollified by the Congress, which has agreed to his demand to appoint his loyalist as party chief in Haryana.
While Vivek Tankha, another signatory, has been renominated to Rajya Sabha, Milind Deora and Tharoor have been given party responsibilities in Maharashtra for the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Leaders like Jitin Prasada and Yogananda Shastri, who were part of the G-23, have quit Congress to join BJP and NCP respectively.
Other signatories include Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Renuka Chowdhary, P J Kurien, Raj Babbar, Kuldeep Sharma, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Arvinder Singh Lovely, Kaul Singh Thakur, Ajay Singh and Sandeep Dikshit. Congress sources said Akhilesh Pratap Singh and Dikshit have no sympathies left for the grouping now.