Punjab crisis: Congress ‘G-23’ rises (again) to raise vital questions
The rapid changes happening within Congress in Punjab have once again prompted senior leaders like Kapil Sibal to question the party’s top leadership about its handling of crisis situations.
“We are G-23, definitely not Ji Huzoor-23. We will keep raising issues,” said Sibal, who is one of the group of 23 leaders, who made the headlines last year by writing an open letter to Sonia Gandhi asking for drastic changes in the party and raised the demand for a “visible leadership”.
The Punjab Congress is in a state of turmoil, just ahead of the election year, following the unceremonious exit of Captain Amarinder Singh as the chief minister, and thereafter, resignation of Navjot Singh Sidhu as the state party president.
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“In Congress, there is no elected president now. We don’t know who is taking decisions.
“The irony of the Congress is that those who are close to them (leadership) have left and those who they think are not close to them are still there,” said Sibal.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, another G-23 leader, has written to Sonia Gandhi to immediately call a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting to discuss the string of exits from the party.
Sibal said it is time for the party to introspect. “Why are people leaving? Maybe we should see whether it is our fault?” he said.
The senior leader expressed his anguish at party colleagues leaving one after the other. “I stand here with a heavy heart. Our people are leaving us. Sushmita, Faleiro… Jitin becomes minister.. Scindia also left long back…”
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Senior leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, Sushmita Dev and Luizinho Faleiro have left the party in recent years. Congress, which is electorally battered, is losing ground to regional parties like the Trinamool Congress, which is emerging as the principle opposition party ahead of the 2024 general elections.
