Congress leader Rahul Gandhi reached out to party’s G23 faction after the group of rebel leaders said they “don’t have faith” in him while staying firm with their demand for a change in the leadership.
The group comprising Congress’s rebels of sorts, the G23, met for the first time on Wednesday since the party’s humiliating defeat in the recently concluded assembly elections in five states and, as expected, captured headlines.
Congress’s Shankar Singh Vaghela, who was one of the attendees of the G23 meeting that took place at party veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad’s residence, while reiterating the call for a revamp in the party leadership, said that they “don’t have faith in Rahul Gandhi”.
“We don’t have faith in Rahul Gandhi. Today, Azad [Ghulam Nabi Azad] will meet Sonia Gandhi to convey her our demands. New leadership should come in. We want betterment of Congress. Other leaders will join us soon,” Vaghela told News18.
Amid rumbles and the rebel faction not pinning faith on him to lead the party, Rahul Gandhi met senior leader Bhupinder Hooda, who is a part of the G23 group.
Sources privy to the happenings in the G23 faction said Hooda conveyed to the Congress scion that they are not in favour of splitting the party.
The G23 leaders, who have been pretty vocal about their demand for a revamp of party’s leadership, had said after the meeting that the “only way forward for Congress is to adopt a model of collective and inclusive leadership and decision-making at all levels”.
Senior Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit, who is a part of the rebel G23 faction, told News18 that “one person, capable person, will make a difference”.
“It will make the organisation efficient. We are in the Congress. We are Congress loyalists,” he added.
Ghulam Nabi Azad is likely to meet party chief Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath on Thursday. Sources, however, said that the time for the meeting between Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sonia Gandhi has not been finalised yet.
G23 calls for ‘collective and inclusive leadership’
After concluding the meeting on Wednesday, G23 leaders said the only way forward for the party is to adopt the model of collective and inclusive leadership and decision making at all levels.
The joint statement by Congress’s G23 leaders 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 mentioned.
Meanwhile, in another development, former Union minister Veerappa Moily has distanced himself from G23.
Moily said that the G23 has moved away from the “stated intent”.
“I signed their memorandum for reforms,” Moily said, adding that it can’t be institutionalised or “leadership can’t be questioned on the streets”.
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