Kamal Nath could broker peace between Gandhis and G-23 leaders: Report

The fresh round of debate within Congress, against the backdrop of the Punjab crisis, is likely to bring senior leader Kamal Nath back to broker peace between G-23, the group of rebel leaders, and the Gandhis.

News agency IANS reported Kamal Nath recently had a meeting with some of the G-23 leaders, including Kapil Sibal, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, to take up their concerns with the party high command i.e. the Gandhis.

The former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister will try and broker peace between the two antagonistic groups by raising prominent concerns of the G-23, which include a discussion on contentious issues, key appointments and internal elections.

The immediate reason for discontent though is nomination to the Upper House. The G-23 is upset with the Gandhis because the party did not ask its Tamil Nadu ally, DMK, for a Rajya sabha seat, which could have sent Ghulam Nabi Azad back to the Upper House.

Besides, what miffed the senior leaders is the ruckus created by alleged supporters of two former MPs at Kapil Sibal’s house recently. The G-23 wants action against the two leaders.

Sources say that Kamal Nath met Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi recently to raise these concerns. While there has been no official word on what transpired between Nath and Sonia Gandhi, it is said that there has been some positive movement to resolve the conflict.

The upcoming meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) may help the party deal with this nagging problem where senior leaders, under the name G-23, raise their concerns directly in the media, embarrassing the party leadership.

Podcast: Is Cong right in welcoming Kanhaiya? A peep into Communist presence in party

On their part, the senior leaders have maintained that they are not against the Gandhis, but the people around them who ‘misguide’ the leadership, resulting in consecutive losses for the party in every election.

As a proof of their loyalty, Anand Sharma, one of the G-23 leaders, strongly objected to detention of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Deepender Hooda in Uttar Pradesh recently.