Congress leadership brace for heated working committee meet

With the “disastrous” Assembly results setting the stage for another churning in the party, detractors of the Congress leaders are keeping a low profile ahead of a crucial meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), as they intend to pound on the decision-makers for the defeat, especially in Punjab and Uttarakhand.

The G-23 or change-seekers, who had sought clarity on leadership, are learnt to have held at least two informal consultations in two days on the strategy to be adopted in the CWC. On Friday, G-23 members like Kapil Sibal, Anand Sharma and Manish Tewari met Ghulam Nabi Azad at the latter’s residence while some others joined online.

None of them has come out in public against the leadership, except a subtle tweet by senior MP Shashi Tharoor, as they have decided to take the fight to the party fora and not on social media or TV studios. Sources said that in the meeting at Azad’s residence, it was decided that the CWC members among G-23 will raise the issue of reforms in the party at the meeting.

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While Tharoor on Thursday batted for reforming the party's organisational leadership to reignite the idea of India and inspire people, saying “change is unavoidable if one needs to succeed”, the Kerala MP on Friday tweeted that the Congress will “yet prove a worthy adversary” and that “we have lost but are not defeated. Our convictions, values and the spirit of our legacy are deeply rooted and will prevail.”

Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram, son of P Chidambaram who was a special observer in Goa, had a subtle dig aimed at the leadership. “A book I was recommended to read,” he tweeted with the image of the cover page of ‘Leadership and Self Deception: Getting Out of the Box’.

Rahul Gandhi will be the target of this group as he took the lead role as the decision-maker in the elections as Sonia Gandhi took a back seat owing to health reasons. The dismal performance in Uttar Pradesh will also call into question Priyanka Gandhi Vadra with some leaders suggesting that ‘Brand Priyanka’ has also come a cropper.

On Thursday, Sonia Gandhi decided to call a meeting of the CWC very soon even as the party felt that internal fight was one of the main reasons for its defeats in the Assembly elections. Punjab and Uttarakhand witnessed factional fights before and during the polls.

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Congress has been reduced to ruling just two states – Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh – now and it is the party’s worst political situation. However, party leaders point out to 1998 when the Congress was reduced to power in just three states and Sonia managed to revive it by 2004. It has not won a single Assembly election since 2018 and has lost Kerala and Assam besides the fall of governments in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

With elections due in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh next year where Chief Ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel are challenged by Sachin Pilot and T S Singh Deo for the top post. Party managers said that they have dealt with the problem in Rajasthan while it is in the process of ensuring peace in Chhattisgarh.

It is also facing trouble in Karnataka, which will also go to the polls next year, between state Congress president DK Shivakumar and Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah while in Kerala, the leadership change has resulted in new problems. The story is no different in Maharashtra and Assam too.

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