G-23 Leaders Hold 2nd Meeting In 24 Hours, Sonia Talks To Ghulam Nabi Azad

Bhubaneswar: For the second day in a row, the G-23 leaders of Congress party held a meeting at veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s residence in New Delhi even as Rahul Gandhi tried to reach out to them.

Following the Congress’ humiliating debacle in the recently concluded Assembly elections in 5 states, the G-23 leaders have been vocal in their demand for change in leadership of the party. On Monday, senior leader Kapil Sibal has said the Gandhis should step aside from the leadership role and give a chance to someone else to lead the party.

“The Grand Old Party has been losing elections continuously since 2014. The leadership is living in ‘cuckoo land’, if it is not aware of the reasons for the party’s decline even after eight years,” he said. Sibal’s statement came a day after Congress Working Committee reaffirmed its faith in the leadership of Sonia Gandhi.

The dissident group of Congress followed it up with a dinner meeting in Azad’s house on Wednesday to chalk out strategy on how to revamp the party from within.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi had reached out to Azad ahead of the meeting by talking to him over phone. Azad reportedly told her the purpose of the meeting. The leaders of the group have since held a series of meetings at Azad’s residence.

On Thursday morning, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda met former party president Rahul Gandhi and the two leaders are understood to have discussed ways to revamp the party. Hooda later met Azad in presence of deputy leader of the Congress in Rajya Sabha and another G-23 leader Anand Sharma.

The meeting in Azad’s house on the day was attended by 18 members including Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Sandeep Dikshit. Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, former Gujarat chief minister Shankar Singh Vaghela, former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and former Haryana speaker Kuldeep Sharma had also joined them.

“We don’t have faith in Rahul Gandhi. New leadership should come in. We want betterment of Congress. Other leaders will join us soon,” Shankar Singh Vaghela told News18 after the meeting.

According to sources, Azad is likely to meet party president Sonia Gandhi with the G-23’s proposals soon.