New Delhi: Hours after making a telling comment, which was apparently aimed at the Congress leadership, senior party leader Shashi Tharoor joined a meeting of dissident party leaders at Ghulam Nabi Azad’s residence here on Wednesday evening.
Among others who attended the dinner meet included Kapil Sibal, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, Bhupinder Hooda, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Prithviraj Chavan, Raj Babbar, PJ Kurien and Mani Shankar Aiyar, reported NDTV.
The Congress cut a sorry figure in the recent assembly elections in five states, losing Punjab to AAP and failing to stop BJP from retaining power in UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa.
There have been calls for a complete overhaul of Congress, with a non-Gandhi at the helm, by a growing section of the party, including the rebel ‘G-23’.
Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi reportedly wanted to resign at the post-election debacle Congress Working Committee meeting, but their offer was unanimously rejected. Not only that, Sonia was also asked to continue as Congress president.
Tharoor, who has been known to be a fence-sitter vis-à-vis the Gandhi family, is a surprise addition to the growing list. So is Mani Shankar Aiyar, a lifelong Gandhi family acolyte.
Tharoor had posted a telling tweeted earlier today. “I’ve learned so much from my mistakes, I’m thinking of making a few more,” Tharoor tweeted, preluding the comment with “without comment”.
Sibal said two days ago it was time for the Gandhis to step aside and let someone else head the Congress. “The leadership is in cuckoo land… I want a ‘Sab ki Congress’. Some want a ‘Ghar ki Congress’,” Sibal was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
Sibal has been called a ‘gaddar’ by some Congress leaders who reaffirmed their faith in the Gandhi family and urged Sonia to make organizational changes.
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