G-23 leader Ghulam Nabi Azad is likely to meet with Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday, while members of the dissenting group in Congress held a series of meetings on Thursday where they insisted they would fight for party renewal as they within her lap.
Sources in the group said that during the talks, the leaders deliberated on steps they deem necessary to strengthen the party, and decided to convey to the leadership that their sole interest is to strengthen the organization to “save the idea of India.” “. What only a strong Congress can do.
A day after the Group of 23 pitched for “inclusive and collective leadership” in Congress, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, one of its members, met Rahul Gandhi and the two leaders were told they had discussed a renewal of the party organization, an important demand of the dissenters.
The meeting is seen as an attempt by the Gandhi family to contact the G-23, which is showing signs of increasing aggression on leadership after Congress’ major loss in parliamentary elections in five states.
During the meeting, which lasted about an hour and a half, they deliberated over the party’s defeat in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa, sources said.
Gandhi, a former president of Congress, had called Hooda to discuss the political situation in Haryana. However, the discussion turned to the party’s abysmal performance in the elections in the five states.
Sonia Gandhi had contacted Azad earlier on Wednesday ahead of the G-23 dinner meeting at his residence.
The group’s leaders have since held a series of meetings at Azad’s residence.
After Thursday’s meeting, Hooda, a former prime minister of Haryana, visited Ghulam Nabi Azad, the group’s informal leader, at his home.
Hooda and Azad were told they had discussed “concrete proposals”, the details of which were not immediately known, to bolster Congress.
The G-23 had made a strong case for “collective leadership” at its meeting here on Wednesday.
Congressional deputy leader in Rajya Sabha and another G-23 leader Anand Sharma also joined Hooda at Azad’s residence, where they discussed the outcome of his meeting with Rahul Gandhi.
Later that evening, Sibal also met Azad at his home.
Hooda, according to sources, told Gandhi that the G-23 leaders do not crave a position, but are only trying to strengthen the party.
Amid calls from some of the Gandhi family loyalists to take action against Kapil Sibal, who recently said the Gandhis should step aside and clear the way for someone else to take the reins of the party, Hooda learned to have relayed to Rahul Gandhi that such a move would be unacceptable to the group, as the dissident leader had only talked about strengthening the Congress.
TS Singh Deo, a minister in Chhattisgarh, was the last congress leader to demand action against Sibal on Thursday for speaking out against the party leadership.
Also Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Congress party leader in Lok Sabha, dismissed leaders who publicly voiced their grievances. “Sonia Gandhi listens to everyone and any grievances should be voiced within the party and not in public,” he said.
Congressional sources said the party leadership wants to resolve disagreements with the G-23 and is reaching out to its leaders. It is known that some senior leaders have been delegated to consult with the dissenting group to resolve the disagreements.
The G-23 has been in constant search of organizational restructuring since it first wrote to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 after a series of electoral losses and the party’s waning influence.
The group had said in a statement Wednesday that the “only way forward for Congress was to adopt a model of inclusive and collective leadership and decision-making at all levels”.
They insisted that they want to strengthen Congress and “not undermine it in any way.”
Sources in the G-23 said the leaders discussed some “concrete proposals”, the details of which were not immediately known, to strengthen Congress. These proposals could be considered when Azad, once a loyalist of the Gandhi family, meets with the president of Congress.
This post Congress: Rahul Gandhi talks to Bhupinder Singh Hooda as Congress contacts G-23, Ghulam Nabi Azad likely to meet Sonia Gandhi on Friday
was original published at “https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/rahul-gandhi-talks-to-bhupinder-singh-hooda-as-congress-reaches-out-to-g-23-ghulam-nabi-azad-likely-to-meet-sonia-gandhi-on-friday/articleshow/90297971.cms”
