A day after Ghulam Nabi Azad launched a fresh attack on Rahul Gandhi and the party, three senior Congress leaders Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Hooda and Prithviraj Chavan met the veteran leader here. Sharma had earlier met Azad last Saturday, a day after he quit Congress.
The meeting also came on a day announcement came that Azad will hold a public meeting in Jammu on September 4, the same day Congress is holding a protest rally in the national capital where Rahul will speak, indicating that his fight would be a no-holds-barred one against the party with which he had a five-decade-old relationship.
Sources said the leaders asked why he resigned from the party without consulting them and especially when the party had announced the President election. Azad is learnt to have told them that there was pressure on him from his supporters as there was a concerted campaign against him.
None of the leaders, however, provided details about what was discussed at the meeting, which came amid indications that another G-23 leader Shashi Tharoor may throw the hat in the ring for the Congress presidential election on October 17 in a bid to highlight the crisis in the party and ignite a discussion on finding a solution.
Azad was the main leader of the G-23 but even before his exit, the group had disintegrated as several of its leaders like Jitin Prasada had quit the party. Also, some leaders like Mukul Wasnik and Vivek Thanka started keeping a distance from the grouping, which had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking clarity on the leadership issue in 2020.
The meeting assumes significance as the G-23 is planning to field a candidate in the Congress presidential election on October 17. Senior Lok Sabha MP and a G-23 member Shashi Tharoor has indicated that he may fight the election.
Congress leadership appears to have zeroed in on Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot as the potential candidate though he is reluctant to leave his home state. Though a victory in the election is a distant dream, the G-23 does not want to go down with a fight and a meeting with Azad, a veteran organisation man, is seen as a strategy session.
During the Congress Working Committee meeting to finalise the president election schedule last Sunday, Sharma is learnt to have raised concerns about the electoral rolls and transparency in the process. Congress has clarified that the process was fool-proof and transparent while denying that Sharma has made such remarks.
On Sunday, Chavan also warned against having a “puppet president” and said the party will not survive in such a scenario. "Why are you taking the reverse path? You will confirm the name in advance and then conduct elections, does this ever happen? Hold elections, whoever has to fight, will fight. If backseat driving continues by making a puppet president, then the party will not be able to survive," he added.