The special committee of the Congress to assist party chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday avoided any discussion on Bihar poll debacle as also trenchant criticism of the party’s functioning by senior leader Kapil Sibal. These issues will now be taken up at the CWC meeting scheduled later this month.
AICC sources said this was a routine meeting for party’s administrative issues through video conferencing. The special panel of the Congress was formed in August to assist Sonia Gandhi on organisational and operational matters. Ahmed Patel, KC Venugopal, AK Antony, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala are its members.
“This was a scheduled meeting and nothing to do with the Kapil Sibal controversial remarks. And not much was discussed due to the absence of senior party leader and member of the group Ahmed Patel. The only agenda was the signature campaign. Some members made a brief critical reference to Sibal’s comments and said that the party chief should take note of of is frequent comments against the party on public fora. It was decided that such issues to be taken up in the CWC,” said the AICC sources.
On the administrative part, the party discussed setting up committees and create certain posts in all the states and units to review the party’s ground situation. All these points will be briefed to the party chief for her opinion and action thereafter,” said the sources. The Bihar poll debacle has once again brought up a public blow-out among its top leaders after Kapil Sibal’s open criticism of the party leadership. Sibal had called for “experienced minds, experienced hands and those who understand political realities” to revive the organisation. He also said the “time for introspection is over”.
Rebutting Sibal, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday said that there was “no need” for his colleague to mention “internal issues” in the media. In a series of tweets. Gehlot also said that after every electoral loss, the party had shown “undivided and firm belief in the party leadership” and had emerged stronger from each crises. Sibal was one of the 23 Congress leaders behind the “dissent letter” that caused an all-out clash within the party in August but changed little except for key letter-writers being shunted out. The letter had suggested sweeping changes after the Congress lost power in Madhya Pradesh after a revolt by Jyotiraditya Scindia and barely saved its Rajasthan government after a rebellion.
Earlier in the day senior party leader Salman Khurshid took a dig at such party colleagues calling them “doubting Thomases” who suffer periodic “pangs of anxiety”. In a Facebook post that started with an Urdu couplet of Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, former union minister Khurshid, who is among the leaders considered close to the Gandhi family, said if the mood of the electorate is resistant to the liberal values the party has espoused and cherished, it should be prepared for a long struggle rather than look for short cuts to get back into power. Noting that everyone in the party is perplexed and pained by the continuing misfortunes of the Congress that some have chosen to describe as “our misadventures”, Khurshid said there is something called faith, not necessarily blind, in destiny.
The favourite panacea of “doubting Thomases”, introspection and collective leadership, might do no collateral damage but is a bit overestimated, Khurshid asserted.
“Our real redemption might be found in understanding the mind of the contemporary citizen, molded by prevailing circumstances and influenced by a self-serving potion of social envy and suspicion, if not hate, fed by the ruling establishment,” he said.