The Congress on Wednesday was left besieged by two of its topmost leaders drawn in controversy. While praise of Narendra Modi and his party by AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi stirred a hornet’s nest within the party circle due to his proximity with the high command, former Union Minister Kapil Sibal left the party dejected for representing West Bengal Government in the Saradha case.
Dwivedi, however, has said that the reports which appeared on a web portal has completely misunderstood and misquoted him out of context. He said that the website which carried the interview has distorted his analysis of the 2014 lok Sabha polls.
“look at the way the website mention below the interview that certain phrases in Hindi in the report have been modified,” Dwivedi told The Pioneer. He was also quoted as saying that Modi has started a “new era.” “Modi has been successful in convincing people that from a social point of view, he is closest to Indian citizens. His is a victory of Indianness,” Dwivedi was quoted in the interview.
Dwivedi, who has been looking into the organisation affairs since decades, clarified that what he had said in an “objective” analysis was that the election results of 2014 was not the victory of Modi or BJP but defeat of Congress. He said that Modi and BJP succeeded in projecting that they were closer to Indian people and presented their victory as that of Indianness.
Congress also expressed its unhappiness over Sibal representing the West Bengal Government in the multi-crore rupees Saradha scam in the Supreme Court, two days after its State unit had expressed objection to it.
“I fully endorse the views expressed by the West Bengal Congress,” said CP Joshi, party general secretary in-charge of the State, making clear the unhappiness over the former Union Minister appearing in the SC for the Government of rival Trinamool Congress. Joshi said he has conveyed the sentiments of the State Congress unit to the party high command.
West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, on Monday said, “Sibal is a known face of the Congress and a former Union Minister. He is representing the State Government in the Saradha case in the Supreme court. We feel bad.” At the AICC briefing, AICC spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala had said Sibal should take note of the sentiments of the party unit in West Bengal.