After Congress' Poll Debacle, Senior "Dissident" Leaders Meet

A day after Congress' latest poll defeats, "dissident" leaders met at senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's home this evening.

Former Union Ministers Kapil Sibal and Manish Tewari were seen arriving at Mr Azad's home in Delhi for the meeting. Anand Sharma was also expected to join the discussions, sources said.

The leaders reportedly discussed the way forward and expressed dismay at the Congress leadership for not taking any corrective steps to revive the party.

They also reportedly expressed concern that the report of the committee formed to evaluate the losses after the last round of assembly poll defeat in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala and Puducherry were not even discussed in the party.

All four are part of the "G-23" or group of 23 "dissident" leaders who had written to party president Sonia Gandhi two years ago, calling for sweeping organisational changes and a "visible and full-time leadership" to tackle the Congress' unending run of election disasters.

The Congress yesterday lost Punjab, one of the last big states it ruled, to Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The party also put up a weak show in states where it had hoped for a fighting chance at a comeback - Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.

In Uttar Pradesh, India's most politically vital state, the Congress failed to make any impact despite a high-voltage campaign led by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The party's decimation has revived calls within the party for a leadership change, especially by members of the "G-23", who have been vocal in their criticism.

One of these leaders, Shashi Tharoor, tweeted that change is unavoidable.

"All of us who believe in Congress are hurting from the results of the recent assembly elections. It is time to reaffirm the idea of India that the Congress has stood for and the positive agenda it offers the nation. And to reform our organisational leadership in a manner that will reignite those ideas and inspire the people. One thing is clear - Change is unavoidable if we need to succeed," Mr Tharoor wrote.

Soon after, news agency ANI quoted a senior leader as saying that the G-23 would meet "in the next 48 hours".

The Congress, on the other hand, said its top decision-making body will meet to "introspect" on the results.

"The results of five states have come against the expectations of the Congress party but we accept that we failed to get the blessings of the people. Sonia Gandhi has decided to convene Congress Working Committee meeting soon to introspect the results," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told reporters.

But senior party leaders today said they did not expect a course correction.

Nothing changed after the Congress appointed a committee to assess what went wrong in the Bihar election in 2020 and last year's state elections, the leaders said.

Decisions that likely set the party up for disaster in Punjab are being called into question.

Just four months to the polls, Amarinder Singh was replaced as Chief Minister as the Gandhis favoured his rival Navjot Singh Sidhu. Mr Sidhu continued to target Amarinder Singh's successor Charanjit Singh Channi.

Priyanka Gandhi's campaign in Uttar Pradesh, pushing the "ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon (I'm a woman, I can fight)" slogan, proved to be a non-starter. "In UP, we have got a lower percentage of votes than last time. We don't need a weather forecast to see what is happening," a leader said.

Leaders seen to be close to the Gandhis pushed back against the criticism.

"It is impossible for the Congress to survive without the Gandhi family. Those who are hungry for power can please leave. The rest of us are not interested in power and will stay with the Gandhi family," Congress' key troubleshooter DK Shivakumar told NDTV.