Kapil Sibal caught between G-23 and Gandhis; faces flak from Congress leadership

New Delhi: There is no let-up in the infighting in the Congress after the party working committee meet, with the Lok Sabha whip Manickam Tagore hitting out at senior leader Kapil Sibal for his remarks against the leadership and accusing him of speaking the language of the RSS and the BJP.

The remarks came after the Congress Working Committee met on Sunday, and after almost five hours of deliberations urged Sonia Gandhi to continue to lead and initiate changes required to strengthen the party.

It is understood that Sibal is hosting a dinner for in-party dissenters, called the Group of 23 leaders (G-23), on Wednesday to push the high command to carry out internal reforms and address the problem of leadership inertia.

After the announcement of Assembly poll results, the G-23 ‘dissidents’ had met at senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s residence in Delhi; it was attended by Sibal, Manish Tewari, Anand Sharma and Akhilesh Prasad Singh, while some other leaders had joined virtually.

Earlier in the day, Sibal, the most vociferous among the G-23 leaders, said that Gandhis should step aside and give some other leader a chance to lead the party.

“Leadership is in cuckoo land I want a ‘Sab ki Congress’. Some want a ‘Ghar ki Congress’,” Sibal told the Indian Express in an interview.

Sibal is one of the signatories of the letter written to Sonia Gandhi for pushing reforms within the party. Another Congress leader and member of the G-23 faction Sandeep Dikshit has also launched a scathing attack at the Congress high command and stated that senior leadership continues to be arrogant despite repeated losses in elections.

The Congress has put out a video of all its former leaders from Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, on its Twitter handle. “We will fight on. We will overcome. We will continue to raise your voice,” the party said.