A meeting of the Rajya Sabha MPs of the Congress held on Thursday, saw young MPs of the former president Rahul Gandhi’s camp taking on former ministers in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet over for the party’s current situation and kindled fresh debate on the young versus the old guard in the party.
Countering the charges against UPA managers, former Information Broadcasting Minister and senior Lok Sabha MP of the party Manish Tewari said no charges against the UPA has stood the test of law in the last six years. He said on Twitter citing the reports of Thursday’s meeting that the question whether the UPA was sabotaged from within is also equally valid.
Congress insiders say that the resignation of Jyotiraditya Scindia and the rebellion of Sachin Pilot, both leaders close to Rahul Gandhi, led to discussions about the question of leadership yet again. Though both the camps want a permanent president for the party, most favouring Rahul Gandhi himself, the old guard believe that the youngsters are not efficient in taking on the BJP’s might. They say that though Scindia and Pilot were given the best of opportunities by the party, both decided to look for other options. “Both wanted to become Chief Ministers. But they do not have the numbers—within the party and outside,” a veteran Congress leader said and added that the system of collective decision making should be brought back to the party.
There were reports that even former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was upset at the unexpected targeting of the UPA by the youngsters, especially by former Youth Congress president and AICC in-charge of Gujarat Rajiv Satav. The meeting, convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, was attended by Singh, former ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, AK Antony and AICC Treasurer Ahmed Patel among others.