#kapil sibal raises questions on cong leadership

[digimakacademy]

बिहार चुनाव में हार पर कांग्रेस में बढ़ी रार, अब खुर्शीद का सिब्बल पर हमला, कहा- पार्टी में रहकर नुकसान पहुंचाने वाले खुद बाहर हो जाएं तो सबसे अच्छा हाइलाइट्स: बिहार चुनाव में कांग्रेस की हार के बाद पार्टी के भीतर बढ़ी कलह सिब्बल, तारिक अनवर, कार्ति चिदंबरम ने पार्टी के रुख पर उठाए सवाल

[bbcbreakingnews]

‘Those unhappy free to leave’: Cong vs Cong out in the open, again

NEW DELHI: The Bihar assembly poll results have triggered another round of mudslinging in the Congress, bringing to the fore the deep divide within the grand old party. After the party’s dismal performance in Bihar elections and the bypolls across the country, some senior leaders have once again questioned the Congress leadership, evoking a strong reaction from the loyalists, who have maintained that “those unhappy with the party are free to leave”. Kapil Sibal was the first to go public against the party leadership, seeking “action and introspection”. Sibal stressed that the party needs thoughtful leadership which can be more articulate and take things forward. Sibal found immediate support from Congress Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha who said it is time to act now, else it will be too late. Karti Chidamabram, the Congress MP from Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu, also backed Sibal’s demand for introspection. The senior Chidambaram, on the other hand, in an interview to a Hindi daily, raised questions on party’s weak organisational strength and also said that in Bihar, it contested on more seats than it should have. Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is also a Congress Working Committee member, on Wednesday took all the critics head on and said those unhappy with the party’s functioning were free to leave instead of embarrassing it in public. Slamming senior leader Kapil Sibal for “giving sermons from AC rooms”, he said disgruntled members may join other parties or float their own outfits. Wondering why Sibal was not seen campaigning for the Congress during the Bihar elections, Chowdhury said, “Speaking without doing anything doesn’t mean introspection.” Before Chowdhury, senior leaders Ashok Gehlot and Salman Khurshid also slammed Kapil Sibal for going public with his views. Salman Khurshid called the dissenters “doubting Thomases” who had the habit of biting their nails every time the party underperformed. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot questioned Sibal’s move to go to the media and said he had hurt the sentiments of party workers. Earlier, another senior leader from Bihar, Tariq Anwar, had blamed the delay in finalising alliance as one of the reasons for the party’s below-par performance in the state. Anwar, however, was careful not to question the leadership on the issue. In August this year, 23 senior party leaders had written a letter to interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, seeking a complete overhaul of the party and internal elections – from the block to the Congress Working Committee level. Sibal and Tankha were part of the group which came under major attack from the loyalists. Several of the dissenters were eventually eased out of the important positions that they held within the party.

source https://bbcbreakingnews.com/2020/11/18/those-unhappy-free-to-leave-cong-vs-cong-out-in-the-open-again/

[bbcbreakingnews]

After disastrous poll outing, top Cong panel brainstorms

NE W DELHI: A top Congress panel met on Tuesday and held extended discussions, triggering a buzz about its agenda with some of those included in the deliberations linked to states, including Bihar, where the party suffered setbacks. The committee set up to help the “Congress president in organisational matters”, which was formed as part of the AICC reshuffle effected in August, met virtually in the evening, the scheduling of which was reported by TOI in Tuesday’s edition. While there was no official briefing on the deliberations or on the meeting’s agenda, the composition of participants suggested it could be about the recently held polls in Bihar where the party performed badly and in bypolls in Gujarat, MP, Karnataka and Manipur where Congress flopped. The participants included AICC general secretary incharge organisation K C Venugopal, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala — who are all members of the panel. Veteran A K Antony is also a member of the panel but it was not clear if he attended the discussions, owing to family engagements. Crucially, AICC state incharges — Rajeev Satav (Gujarat), Shaktisinh Gohil (Bihar) and Bhakta Charan Das (Manipur) — were specially invited to the brainstorming. Besides, Wasnik is general secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh while Surjewala of Karnataka. In MP, Congress rebels won as BJP candidates, in Gujarat it was wipe-out, NDA held onto Bihar while Congress did poorly, BJP completed a majority in Manipur and also made inroads in Karnataka. In a pre-CWC redux, the ‘to and fro’ among Congress factions has resumed on the issue of post-2019 drift. After former minister Kapil Sibal renewed his attack on the leadership on the lines of the letter written by the G-23, veteran Salman Khurshid on Tuesday called it “periodic pangs of anxiety” and dubbed those raising questions as “doubting Thomases” whose panacea of “introspection and collective leadership” were overestimated.

source https://bbcbreakingnews.com/2020/11/18/after-disastrous-poll-outing-top-cong-panel-brainstorms/