Rise above family: Another letter 'bomb' to Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, this time from 9 expelled leaders

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New Delhi: Adding to Congress' woes, nine expelled leaders have written to party's interim president Sonia Gandhi, asking her to "rise above the affinity for the family. "Parivaar ke moh se utho" — the four-page letter sent by expelled party leaders to Sonia read.

Addressed to Sonia Gandhi, the letter also attacked Uttar Pradesh Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. In the letter, the nine Congress leaders, including former MP Santosh Singh and former minister Satyadev Tripathi, former MLAs Vinod Chaudhary, Bhudhar Narayan Mishra, Nekchand Pandey, Prakash Goswami and Sanjeev Singh said that the Congress is going through its worst phase in Uttar Pradesh.

The letter reads, 'rise above the temptation of the family' and re-establish the party's democratic traditions. The letter urges Sonia to run the organisation by establishing mutual trust and restoring the constitutional and democratic values of the party.

"If you deviate from your responsibilities, then Congress will become a thing of the past," they said. "Today, Congress is facing uncertainty, indecisiveness, lack of communication, and lack of expression of thoughts, and is passing through a difficult phase of existential crisis."

The letter invoked the democratic values with which Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had built the Congress party and the country. The letter stated that it was ironical that the way in which the party is being run, there is confusion and depression among ordinary Congress workers, they added. 

"At a time, when the country's democratic values and social fabric is lying scattered, the need of the country is that Congress remain alive, dynamic and strong. You please rise above the affinity for the family, and as per tradition, restore the expression of thoughts, constitutional and democratic values, and run the organisation by establishing communication and mutual trust," the leaders urged Gandhi.

This letter written by veterans Congress leaders from UP, comes just days after a similar letter was written by 23 senior Congress leaders to Sonia. That letter had stated that the uncertainty regarding party's leadership has "demoralised Congress workers". They also said over-centralisation and micro-management have always proven counter-productive.