Veerappa Moily: Not part of G23 grouping; why party issues coming up in public places?

BENGALURU: Former Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily on Monday sought to distance himself from Congress G-23 who met in Jammu on Saturday. Moily firmly said, “I am not part of that group. But I am concerned about the inner-party issues surfacing in a public space. It should not affect the party’s morale.’’  The former CM said he completely backs Rahul Gandhi for the party president’s post. 

Moily was part of a grouping of Congress leaders who wrote to party interim president Sonia Gandhi in August last year asking for a visible and full-time leader to head the Congress party nationally as Rahul had resigned and she was holding the post only in an interim capacity. He said the letter was not meant to embarrass the party, but only to strengthen it through reforms and organisational elections.

“It was interpreted as a challenge to the leadership of Sonia and Rahul, but it is not true. We are all with them, and we are not against them,” he said.

He said, “I don’t think we regret it. The letter issue is over and there is no point in pursuing it. We have given the memorandum and it was a perfectly legitimate demand. It was aimed at strengthening the party, which is an ongoing exercise and not a one-time process.” He said the G-23 meeting in Jammu was only to felicitate Ghulam Nabi Azad, who retired recently as a Rajya Sabha member.

“It was not a move aimed at dissension or rebellion within the party,” he added. “As there are concerns about Sonia’s health, it will be good if Rahul, who is actively involved in politics, returns and assumes charge as Congress president,” he said. 

On the perception that Congress is weakening, he said that whenever one party starts winning, the other party appears weak. That is the case with Congress and BJP too. When Congress starts winning, the BJP will appear weak, he reasoned. “The Congress has the potential to bounce back and come to power, and it will,” he said.