new Delhi: After the recent electoral defeat in the assembly elections in five states, a dissident group of rebel Congress workers, called G-23, may raise the demand for reforms in the party during the next meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC).
G-23 members, including Manish Tewari, Kapil Sibal and Anand Sharma, met at the residence of senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday, while some others joined online.
Although no leader against the party leadership came before the public, sources close to the news agency ANI told that it was decided at Azad’s residence that the G-23 members would raise the demand for party reforms in the next CWC meeting.
Delhi | Senior Congress leaders Manish Tewari and Kapil Sibal reached the residence of party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. pic.twitter.com/SPEKtAPw4t
— ANI (@ANI) 11 March 2022
Earlier in 2020, the rebel group wrote to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, demanding comprehensive reforms in the Congress, including a full-time party chief.
“The over-centralization and micro-management of the organization has always proved counter-productive. The party has seen a steady decline in electoral results in 2014 and 2019, and the reasons for this were manifold,” the letter read.
However, Sonia hit back at the rebels, saying they were free to choose a new party president as she did not want to take any further responsibility.
Batting for reforms in organizational leadership to ‘politicize’ the idea of India, senior party leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said, “All of us who believe in @INCIndia are hurt by the results of the recent assembly elections. It is time to reaffirm the idea of India that Congress stands for and the positive agenda it provides to the nation… and reform our organizational leadership in a way that will rejuvenate those ideas and Will inspire people. One thing is clear – change is inevitable if we need to be successful.”
Before him, Congress leader Jaiveer Shergill had posted, “Loss is a loss it has no justification – let’s not sugarcane it with dialogues like ‘vote share’, ‘small margin se lost’ etc – with humility and acknowledgment Accepting the verdict without any ifs and buts is the first step to recovery.
It should be noted that the Congress fared poorly in the assembly elections of Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Manipur, and also lost Punjab, which was one of the few states that set the stage for a relatively new party, the AAP. was doing. Another brainstorm at the Grand Old Party.