The Padma Bhushan award for senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has once again brought to the fore the sharp divide within the party, with leaders of the "G-23" or group of 23 "rebels" and Gandhi family supporters sparring openly.
Though Congress leadership has not formally reacted to the announcement yet, senior leaders of the party like Kapil Sibal, Jairam Ramesh, Anand Sharma, Raj Babbar were amongst the many who took to social media to express their views on Azad being named a Padma awardee by Modi Government fuelling a large scale debate in the public.
While former Union Minister Anand Sharma wished best to Ghulam Nabi Azad for being awarded the country's third highest honour, their party colleague Kapil Sibal was sarcastic in his remarks albeit on his own party.
"Heartiest congratulations to Ghulam Nabi ji for well-deserved recognition of his lifelong enriching contribution to public service and Parliamentary democracy," Sharma tweeted.
"Ghulam Nabi Azad conferred Padam Bhushan. Congratulations bhaijan. Ironic that the Congress doesn't need his services when the nation recognises his contributions to public life," Sibal tweeted.
Jairam Ramesh used the phrase "Ghulam, not Azad (enslaved, not free)". Ramesh also referred to CPM's Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, former Bengal Chief Minister, rejecting his Padma Bhushan.
"Former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee declines the Padma Bhushan award. Right thing to do. He wants to be Azad not Ghulam," Jairam Ramesh tweeted.
He also shared a passage from a book about former bureaucrat PN Haksar's refusal of the award.
Jan 1973, the most powerful civil servant of our country was told he was being offered the Padma Vibhushan on his leaving the PMO (Prime Minister's Office). Here is PN Haksar's response to it. It is a classic, and worthy of emulation," his caption read.
Later, amid reports that Ghulam Nabi Azad had changed his Twitter bio - which has usually a sign of imminent exit - Azad put out a denial and blamed "mischievous propaganda".
"Some mischievous propaganda is being circulated by some people to create confusion. Nothing has been removed or added to my Twitter profile. The profile is as it was earlier," Azad tweeted.
Azad, Sibal and Sharma are all part of the Congress "G-23", a group that wrote to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 complaining about a leadership drift and calling for big reforms in the organisation.
The letter bomb split the Congress down the middle and defined what had previously been muted criticism of the Gandhis and the party's inability to win elections over the past four years.
The Padma award row surfaced on a day the Congress lost another big leader to the BJP, just weeks before high-stakes elections in five states including Uttar Pradesh. RPN Singh, a former minister in the Manmohan Singh government, quit the Congress saying the party was "no longer what it used to be".
Singh is the third member of "Team Rahul" - the younger leaders who were part of Rahul Gandhi's inner circle - to quit over the past three years. In 2020, Jyotiraditya Scindia switched to the BJP and last year, another key UP leader Jitin Prasada followed that route.
Raj Babbar congratulated Azad saying he is like an elder brother. "Your impeccable public life and commitment to Gandhian ideals have always been an inspiration. The Padma award is an ideal recognition of 5 decades of your meticulous service to the nation," Babbar said in his message.