RIFT widening in Congress? Top G-23 leaders meet Ghulam Nabi Azad; WHAT's the PLAN?

Senior Congress leaders and members of the G-23 group Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma and Prithviraj Chavan met Azad at his residence and discussed the current situation within the party and the future strategy of the group.

New Delhi: Amid mass resignations by its leaders in J&K and growing demand for a total organisational overhaul of the party, top G-23 leaders held a closed-door meeting with Ghulam Nabi Azad, a veteran politician from J&K who recently quit the after pinning the blame on the central leadership for the continuous decline of the Congress. According to sources, senior Congress leaders and members of the G-23 group Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma and Prithviraj Chavan met Azad at his residence on Tuesday. The crucial meeting came days after the Congress stalwart from Jammu and Kashmir resigned from all party positions, claiming he was “left with no choice.” 

During the meeting, Sharma, Hooda and Chavan held discussions over the current situation within the party and the future strategy of the G-23. The Congress G-23 leaders are learnt to have also discussed the organisational elections, including that of the Congress president, amid reports that Shashi Tharoor, who is a member of the group, is considering contesting the election for the top party post.

What's the G-23 Plan?

According to sources, the G-23 leaders have agreed to field a consensus leader to contest the presidential polls of the party which is slated on October 17. Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, who is likely to throw his hat into the ring, has not yet confirmed his intentions and just said, "Let`s wait for some time." Sources further say that Tharoor and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Chavan are likely candidates who could challenge the candidate put forward by Gandhis.

On the other hand, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has emerged as the front runner for the Congress president’s post. He is also being seen as the first and foremost choice of interim chief Sonia Gandhi, even as some others want the return of Rahul Gandhi. Interestingly, Gehlot has also proposed his name and in view of all these developments, the G-23 is believed to have made up its mind to field a candidate if no Gandhi family member comes forward to contest polls.

However, it remained to be seen if it would do so as it seemed unlikely as Sonia Gandhi`s choice would be challenged. The last time the election was conducted for the Congress President`s post was in 2000 when Jitendra Prasada had challenged Sonia Gandhi but lost.

What's the demand of G-23?

The G-23 had written a letter to Sonia Gandhi in August 2020 demanding an organisational overhaul and elections at all levels of the party. The G-23 had also been critical of certain decisions of the party leadership. Tuesday's meeting comes days after Azad resigned from the Congress and announced that he will float his own outfit in Jammu and Kashmir ahead of assembly elections there.

Azad, who wrote an explosive 5-page resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi, has said that his resignation letter was just a "tip of the iceberg", indicating that he would step up his attack on the Gandhis in the coming days. The veteran politician from J&K has already announced that he would float his own outfit in Jammu and Kashmir soon, where assembly elections are due to be announced. 

'No G-23, there is only G-Congress'

Meanwhile, Congress leadership has said that the G-23 is only a figment of the imagination and "there is only G-Congress". Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who, along with his senior party colleague Digvijaya Singh arrived here to finalise the upcoming Bharat Jodo Yatra, to be led by Rahul Gandhi and set to kick off from Tamil Nadu`s Kanyakumari on September 7, was interacting with the media here.

Preferring to sidestep questions related to the resignation of veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad, he said the yatra will go on and resignations, elections, and such things will all happen. "Those men and women who have left the Congress after the yatra was announced are engaged in match-fixing with the BJP. Personal ambitions might also be there. Our organisational elections to elect our party President also will be held when the yatra is on," said Ramesh.