Even as the state Congress issued a statement reposing faith in the central leadership, rumblings and divisions in the party have come out in open.
Senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh Vivek Tankha, who has publicly expressed concern over the ‘pitiable’ condition of the party organisation for a while and is said to be one of the signatories to the letter shot off to AICC interim chief Sonia Gandhi seeking an ‘active and visible leadership’, took to Twitter to express his views.
In what seemed to be a reply to widespread backlash to the ‘letter’, Tankha said, “Friends, we are not dissenters but proponents of revival. The letter was not a challenge to the leadership but a parchment of action to strengthen the party. Universally truth is best defence whether it be Court or Public Affairs: history acknowledges the brave and not the timid.
However, party veteran and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh has chosen to tread cautiously on the issue, while extending his support to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
In a chat with a news channel, Singh has said the All India Congress Committee (AICC) should be led by someone from the Gandhi family, adding those who are against Rahul Gandhi should come out in the open and challenge him in an election. The Congress veteran, however, refused to speak on the meeting held at the residence of senior party leader and Rajya Sabha colleague Ghulam Nabi Azad, while adding all that is said and circulated in media is not always true.
He also said it would have been better had these leaders raised the issue in the Congress Working Committee (CWC) forum instead of writing the letter and "leaking" it in the media.
State Congress president and former chief minister Kamal Nath has reposing faith on Sonia Gandhi, which he has done in the past as well. “Any suggestion to put blame to Sonia Gandhi’s leadership is weird. We should not forget that despite all kinds of allegations and smear campaign, she had led the Congress to win in 2004 and forced late Atal Bihari Vajpayee to sit at home.” “I urge Sonia Gandhi to continue to lead the party and strengthen the organisation.”
Several ground-level leaders have also expressed their opinions on the matter on social media. Jabalpur’s city unit chief Dinesh Yadav openly voiced concerns of party workers. “The common party workers is saddened by all that transpired in the CWC. Despite odds, we are committed to party organisation but senior leaders are ruining it all with their bayanbaji (irresponsible statements),” he said.
As the crisis in the party’s central leadership continues to hog limelight, several senior leaders from the state have urged Rahul Gandhi to take over the reins of the organisation again.
Meanwhile, the BJP leadership has also taken pot shots at the internal bickering in the Grand Old Party. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday said that those who speak truth are called ‘gaddars’ (traitors) and boot lickers are termed loyal in the Congress party and the situation is the same right from the state to the national level. The Congress suffers from a centralised system, Chouhan said, adding that leaders who are speaking out are trampled in the Congress.
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