On Thursday, the Indian National Congress announced that it would be dropping Sanjay Jha as 'AICC spokesperson'.
While Abhishek Dutt and Sadhna Bharti were approved as national media panelists of the INC, Sanjay Jha was 'dropped as AICC Spokesperson with immediate effect'.
Jha recently penned an open letter questioning the Congress’ ‘political obsolescence’ if it continues to conduct itself in the same manner -- something that he called "baffling" in an open letter to The Times of India. The party has, in recent years suffered two Lok Sabha poll defeats and has lost (or faced a reversal of government) in various states.
"I would like to call a spade a spade here and a shovel: there has been no serious effort to get the party up and running with any sense of urgency," he writes. As Jha put it in a recent tweet, the need of the hour was "an organisational renewal".
"Of course there is scattered good work being done, but that will not make us robust, dynamic and successful," he had written.
Note that Jha's comments do not seem to be along the lines of a prospective deserter. As he told HW News, he had spoken out “because I care for the Congress party, it’s because I am ideologically a Congressman".
A Mumbai Mirror article written by journalist Rasheed Kidwai opines that Jha is not alone, adding that party insiders suspect that he has the support of individuals such as Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tiwari, Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora and Sandeep Dixit. Others who might be supportive of Jha's efforts include Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Deepinder Hooda.
Kidwai incidentally has written a book called "Sonia, A Biography" as well as a book based on the Party headquarters called "24, Akbar Road".
