Congress G-23 leaders meet at Ghulam Nabi Azad's residence for second time in 24 hours

The group of rebel Congress leaders, known as G-23, met again at the residence of senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday evening, reported NDTV. Kapil Sibal, Anand Sharma and Bhupinder Hooda were some of those who attended this second meeting in 24 hours.

Reportedly, the gathering is expected to be a feedback session of Hooda's meeting with Rahul Gandhi earlier in the day. According to reports, Gandhi and Hooda discussed to revamp the party organisation, a key demand of the dissenters. The meeting was also seen as an attempt by the Gandhi family to reach out to the G-23, which has shown signs of increasing aggression on the leadership issue after Congress' humiliating loss in the recently held Assembly elections in the five states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand. During the meeting that lasted around an hour and half, the two leaders reportedly deliberated on the party's defeat in the five states.

After the meeting, Hooda visited Ghulam Nabi Azad, the informal leader of the G-23, at the latter's residence. Hooda and Azad were learnt to have discussed "concrete proposals", the details of which were not immediately known, to strengthen the Congress.

Meanwhile, after the first meeting meeting on Wednesday, the G-23 leaders issued a joint statement. It read, "We the following members of the Congress Party met to deliberate on the demoralizing outcome of the recent results of the Assembly elections and the constant exodus of both our workers and leaders."

"We believe that the only way forward is for the Congress to adopt the model of collective and inclusive leadership and decision making at all levels," it added.

"In order to oppose the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it is necessary to strengthen the Congress Party. We demand the Congress party to initiate dialogue with other likeminded forces to create a platform to pave the way for a credible alternative for 2024 and the next steps in this regard will be announced soon," it said.

As per the statement, the meeting was held in the knowledge of party chief Sonia Gandhi and "she was informed of the meeting when Azad and the party chief had a telephonic conversation on Tuesday to have a meeting on Thursday." The statement said that the meeting was called to inform the rest of the members about the discussion held in the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and to decide on a further strategy.

(With ANI inputs)

Published on: Thursday, March 17, 2022, 09:19 PM IST