The battle inside the Congress took a fresh turn on Thursday with four young party secretaries — who had participated in Tuesday evening’s “defend Rahul Gandhi” meeting in Punjab Bhawan — met the general secretary in charge of the organisation Janardan Dwivedi to hand over a letter in which they expressed their unhappiness with their seniors, including Mr Dwivedi, “going public with negative comments” about the party.
AICC secretaries Harish Chaudhary, Naseeb Singh, Prakash Joshi and Shakeel Ahmed Khan also asked Mr. Dwivedi to circulate the letter to all senior leaders, Congress Working Committee members and general secretaries.
If the letter stressed that such public criticism was damaging the party, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who is in Amethi, attempted to downplay the divisions in the party, when journalists sought his views on the rift: “There are multiple voices in Congress party,” Mr. Gandhi told them, adding, “and all these voices will bring a solution to it. There are always these types of tension and we will deal with them.”
“We, the undersigned,” the pro-Rahul Gandhi letter said, “have been observing and feeling very strongly that, of late, there comes a statement from different rungs of Congressmen which is not in the interest of the party...If there is any concern it should be expressed in a very dignified manner and at an appropriate place within the party forum.....but surely not in the way which has been by some of our respected senior Congressmen.”
The letter also stresses that these leaders “who are expressing their views in public in recent times themselves have been part and parcel of the party's highest decision making body”.
The letter doesn’t name anyone, but is clearly directed at several leaders, who have criticised Mr. Gandhi and his team's strategy during the polls. The most recent was party general secretary Digvijaya Singh, who said the party vice president’s silence on critical issues had contributed to the party’s loss in the “war of perception”.
On Thursday, Mr. Singh, gauging the mood, tweeted twice, in quick succession: “I support the demand of Secretaries of AICC. Generational Change must happen. It has been a pleasure working with my Secretaries in the AICC,” the first said, while the second read: “Thank God younger generation of Congress now demanding Generational Change which I have been suggesting since Burari AICC in 2009 December.”
In the aftermath of the general elections, several leaders, young and old, had publicly hit out at Mr. Gandhi’s team, while a few had been critical of the general secretaries.
Mr. Dwivedi did not criticise Mr. Gandhi, but his recent comment that there should be a cut-off age for those occupying “active”, demanding posts was also received badly — one secretary suggested that those advocating such a change should “first set an example” by quitting their posts.
Apart from the four secretaries who met Mr. Dwivedi, the other signatories to the letter include Girish Chodankar, Zuber Khan, Suraj Hegde, Kuljit Nagra, Subhonkar Sarkar and Sanjay Kapoor. Three others — D. Chellakumar, Bhupen Bora and Rana Goswami had reportedly also agreed to be signatories — the letter includes their names minus signatures.
