Dissent in Congress: Revolt against Sonia Gandhi over 2 generations

NEW DELHI: Far from settling down, the dust storm in the Congress party over its leadership issue now threatens to take a toll on its leaders. Fresh issues are coming to the fore after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting was held on August 24.
The Likhimpur Kheri district unit of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) has targetted former Union minister Jitin Prasada for being one of the 23 signatories to a letter written by top Congress leaders to interim president Sonia Gandhi demanding major reforms, collective decision-making and full-time visible leadership.
Prasada’s participation as a "dissenter" reminds one of the rebellion by his late father Jitendra Prasada against Sonia Gandhi. Jitin is now being accused of having a family history of revolting against the Nehru-Gandhis.
Interestingly, the Prasadas are not the only father-duo that have hogged the spotlight recently for their rebellion against the leadership.
Last month, former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot had also raised the banner of revolt against the Congress leadership. However, Pilot called truce earlier this month and returned to the party fold after the intervention of senior party leaders. His rebellion too had harked back to his father Rajesh Pilot’s dissent against Sonia Gandhi between 1998 and 2000.
Meanwhile, two senior Congress leaders - Kapil Sibal and Manish Tewari - have commented over the UP district unit’s demand to take action against Jitin Prasada, who had last won the Lok Sabha election from Dhaurahra, which is a part of Lakhimpur Kheri, in 2009.
In a tweet, Sibal defended Prasada, saying, “Unfortunate that Jitin Prasada is being officially targeted in UP. Congress needs to target the BJP with surgical strikes instead wasting its energy by targeting its own.”

Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari retweeted Sibal’s comment and wrote just one word - “Prescient”.

While demanding action against all the 23 signatories, the Lakhimpur Kheri unit of the Congress makes special mention of Prasada's name and says he is the only one from UP.
It alleges that Prasada has a family history of opposing the Gandhis.
"Prasada's father late Jitendra Prasada had given a proof (of the family being against the Gandhis) by contesting against Sonia Gandhi," it said.
Jitendra Prasada had contested against Sonia for the party president's post in November 2000 and was convincingly defeated by the latter.
The letter states that despite Jitendra Prasada's move, Sonia allotted a Lok Sabha ticket to Jitin and made him a Union minister.
"Therefore, the Lakhimpur Kheri unit condemns Jitin Prasada's move and demands strictest possible disciplinary action against him," the letter says.
Sachin Pilot and Rajesh Pilot
Both Sachin Pilot and his late father Rajesh Pilot have also had rough patches with the Congress leadership on at least two occasions each.
After the Congress emerged as the single largest party in the 2018 Rajasthan assembly elections, Sachin Pilot, who was the then president of the party’s state unit, had set his eyes on the chief minister’s post.
However, the Congress leadership under Rahul Gandhi as the party president, could not make up its mind between Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot. Sachin’s supporters held violent protests in three districts of the state after realising that the party would likely choose Gehlot as the next CM.
The apprehension of Sachin Pilot’s supporters turned out to be true. Gehlot was anointed as the CM. However, the Congress leadership sought to pacify Sachin Pilot by making him the deputy CM along with his state party president’s post.
Sachin Pilot rebelled against Gehlot after the three MLAs considered to be close to him were booked by the state’s anti-corruption department to probe allegations of them trying to bribe the Congress legislators to defect. He was even summoned by the police to take part in the probe.
This irked Sachin Pilot. He along with 18 of his close MLAs raised a banner of revolt and shifted to Haryana. The Congress leadership sacked him both as state party chief and deputy CM.
However, during several days of drama, Sachin Pilot realised he did not have the numbers despite the BJP support to topple the Gehlot government. He held negotiations with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and former party president Rahul Gandhi. Subsequently, he called a truce with the party leadership.
His father Rajesh Pilot had also challenged Sonia Gandhi on two occasions. In 1998, Pilot senior planned to contest the party’s president’s post against Sonia Gandhi. However, some top party leaders convinced him to change his mind at the last moment.
Then in the year 2000, Rajesh Pilot again planned to contest the organisational election for the president’s post. He, along with Jitendra Prasada, held a massive rally the same year on May 21 - former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s death anniversary.
But within 20 days, he died in a road accident on June 11.