Team News Riveting
New Delhi, October 16
In what appears to be an overt message and reply to the leaders of G-23 (Group 23), Sonia Gandhi on Saturday told the Congress Working Committee (CWC) that she is a “full-time and hands-on Congress president”.
A prominent G-23 leader Kapil Sibal had recently said that no one knew who was taking decisions in the party since there was no elected president.
At the CWC meeting in New Delhi today, Sonia in her opening remarks said, “I am, if you will allow me to say so, a full-time and hands-on Congress president. Never have we let issues of public importance and concern go unaddressed. You are aware that I have been taking them up with the Prime Minister as have Dr Manmohan Singh and Rahul ji. I have been interacting with like-minded political parties regularly. We have issued joint statements on national issues and coordinated our strategy in Parliament as well.”
The Congress president admitted that the organisational election was scheduled to be completed by June 30 but had to be delayed due to Corona pandemic. The CWC meeting put the Congress organisational election schedule on the table.
“I have always appreciated frankness. There is no need to speak to me through the media. So let us all have a free and honest discussion. But what should get communicated outside the four walls of this room is the collective decision of the CWC,” she said. The statement comes at a time when several veterans, including Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, have been voicing anxieties in the public forum over the sliding Congress strength and exodus of leaders besides demanding internal elections.
Apart from addressing internal issues, Sonia also attacked the government for mishandling the farmers’ agitation and for the spate of killings in Jammu and Kashmir.
On the farmers’ issue, Sonia said the shocking incidents at Lakhimpur Kheri recently betrayed the mindset of the BJP, how it perceived the Kisan Andolan, how it had been dealing with this determined struggle by farmers to protect their lives and livelihoods.
