In a statement, he also urged the Congress leadership to initiate dialogue with like-minded forces to make way for a credible alternative in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
G-23 leaders met over dinner at the residence of former Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday to work out the group’s future strategy and discuss the Congress’ defeat in the recently concluded assembly elections in five states.
Sources said that the group had earlier planned a dinner at Kapil Sibal’s residence, but it was changed at the last minute.
The leaders who attended the meeting included Sibal, Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, Vivek Tankha, Raj Babbar, Akhilesh Prasad Singh and Sandeep Dixit.
The scope of the G-23 group increased this time in the form of some more leaders – Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, former Gujarat Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela, former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, former Deputy Speaker of Rajya Sabha PJ Kurien and former Haryana Speaker Kuldeep Sharma. attended the dinner.
The group extended open invitations to other Congressmen to attend the dinner.
Sources said the meeting was called to apprise all G-23 members of the decisions taken at the crucial Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Sunday.
He said Azad and Sharma, two key members of the G-23, had to apprise the other members of the developments in the CWC meeting and what they said about strengthening the party in the wake of the party’s defeat in the assembly polls.
The Congress performed poorly in these states as it failed to win any of the four BJP-ruled states – Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur – while it lost Punjab to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
The G-23 group has been critical of the Congress leadership. After writing a joint letter to party president Sonia Gandhi in 2020, it is calling for an organizational change.
Sources said that even those Congressmen who do not constitute the block have been invited, but they feel that changes including leadership level are needed to revive the party’s electoral fortunes.
The decision to call the G-23 meeting came a day after Gandhi demanded the resignation of Congress presidents from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa.
Sibal, in his latest salvo hitting out at the leadership, had said that the Gandhi family should step aside and give another leader a chance to lead the party, triggering a backlash from Gandhi family loyalists who lashed out at him. He was accused of speaking the language of the party. BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
However, the G-23 has weakened over time as senior leader M Veerappa Moily has distanced himself from the group, Jitin Prasada has joined the BJP and Mukul Wasnik has not attended its meetings in recent times. .
No comments:
Post a Comment