G-23 looks up to Opposition to convince Gandhis to give up top Congress post
Kapil Sibal, one of the members of G-23, and signatories of the (in) famous letter written by some Congress leaders demanding sweeping changes in party organization, held a dinner recently for Opposition leaders, on the occasion of his birthday.
20 of the 23 leaders of the G-23, like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, Vivek Tankha with a few other senior Congressmen like P. Chidambaram, were present at the function. The Gandhis, though, were conspicuously absent.
Kapil Sibal’s dinner diplomacy was a bigger hit with more parties and who’s who of Opposition present. Parties like AAP, TDP, YSRCP, TRS, BJD, Akali Dal, RLD which were not present during the breakfast meeting called by Rahul Gandhi were also present, bringing the rebels some cheer. BSP continued to give just meetings a miss, giving credence to the Opposition charge that it is the B-team of the BJP.
Among the leaders who attended the dinner were Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch Lalu Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Sitaram Yechury of the CPI-M, D. Raja of the CPI, Omar Abdullah of National Conference, Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena, Pinaki Misra of the Biju Janata Dal, Derek O’Brien of Trinamool Congress, Tiruchi Siva of the DMK, and Naresh Gujral of the Akali Dal.
Parties which are accused of being pro-BJP like KCR’s TRS, Naveen Patnaik’s BJD and Jagan Reddy’s YSRCP were also present.
The Opposition leaders talked of the need to jointly take on the BJP and the Narendra Modi government. They felt a start should be made in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, where a victory could keep the Opposition’s momentum after victory in West Bengal.
Several Opposition leaders highlighted the fact that the Congress party needs to first resolve its “internal problems” with some leaders present suggesting this could only happen if the party was "freed from the clutches of the Gandhis' leadership", sources said.
There are some 200-odd seats in Lok Sabha where BJP and Congress are locked in a direct contest. Both in 2014 and in 2019 general elections, BJP won around 90% of such seats.
Naresh Gujral of the Akali Dal which has recently parted ways with the BJP launched a direct attack on the Gandhis, saying "unless the party gets out of the clutches of the family it will be very difficult to strengthen the party".
Omar Abdullah added, "It's all very well to get the Opposition together, but unless the Congress gets 120 seats in Parliament, at least, we'll not be able to form an alternative [to the BJP]."
Sharad Pawar proposed the Maharashtra model where Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena have come together despite their contradictions.
The meeting has created quite a flutter in the political circles. Kapil Sibal, later in an interview to India Today said that one year has gone by since they wrote the letter but no progress has been made.
He said, “This party has a legacy of about 125 years and, for the last two years, we haven't had a president of the party. I don't know how a political party can move forward without a president and it saddens me. It is not against A, B or C. A political party should have a president.”
We are batting for the Congress party and will continue to do so. The problem again is, while we're having a conversation with the Opposition, since 2019, I've not
had a conversation with the [Congress] leadership.”
With this meeting, G-23 has revived its efforts for a change of guard in the Congress party. This meeting scores the point that the Gandhis could be the roadblock in creating a grand Opposition alliance to take on the BJP in 2024.
Many regional parties are not comfortable with the leadership of Rahul or Priyanka as they consider them junior. A more senior pro at the top post in Congress can take a broader array of Opposition parties and leaders along and pose a stiff challenge to the BJP.
The meeting also proves the point that it is not just the G-23 leaders who think Gandhis don’t have it in them to lead the rejuvenation of the Congress, many top Opposition leaders agree with their viewpoint.
G-23 having failed to make any progress on their demands can use the services of senior leaders like Pawar and others to convince Gandhis to give up the top post for the betterment of the party, for the sake of Opposition unity and for improved prospects to defeat the BJP in 2024.
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