File photo of Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi
A gag order was issued by the Congress today in the wake of the deepening chasm between its old guard and Team Rahul Gandhi that saw the two sides target each other over the drubbing which the party faced in Lok Sabha polls.
In a stern message, Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi told both seniors and juniors in the party to refrain from giving advice publicly through the media.
Mr Dwivedi, who is the general secretary in-charge of Organisation, issued the advisory a day after 14 young Congress secretaries wrote a letter to him attacking the senior leaders for going public with "negative" comments.
Mr Dwivedi has forwarded their letter along with his advisory to all general secretaries, members of the Congress Working Committee and senior leaders.
Controversy had erupted after party general secretary Digvijaya Singh's recent remarks that Rahul Gandhi's silence on critical issues had contributed to their loss in the "war of perception" and that he should have spoken more.
The young secretaries close to Rahul have interpreted it as an attack on the Congress Vice President.
Mr Dwivedi himself had made certain comments prescribing an age limit for Congress leaders for taking active posts within the party. Those remarks, too, came in for criticism from some leaders.
In the letter, Mr Dwivedi said, "I am enclosing a letter from 14 Secretaries of the AICC who have expressed concern over the public statements of some senior Congressmen regarding affairs of the party which in their view harmed the interests of the organisation.
"I am sure that all colleagues will take their views with due sensitivity. I am issuing separate letters to them also advising that in future they should refrain from giving such advice publicly through the media."
Mr Dwivedi's letter is an advice to both party elders and the Congress young Turks. The latter had yesterday freely vented their ire before the media over remarks by some senior leaders following the Lok Sabha poll debacle. Mr Dwivedi's letter seeks to bring to an end to the acrimony.
Rahul, who was on a visit to his Lok Sabha constituency Amethi yesterday, had also sought to downplay the rift.
"There are multiple voices in Congress and all these voices will bring a solution for it. There are always these types of tensions and we will deal with them," Rahul had said when asked to comment on the infighting within the party.
At an AICC briefing, party spokesperson Salman Khurshid, however, dismissed questions about the party having issued any gag order. He also downplayed the issue of AICC secretaries writing letters against their seniors.
"I do not think it (letter by the secretaries) was in the form or nature of disagreement. Exchanges between general secretaries and secretaries take place many times. Since the media is not getting much news from BJP, it is getting more interested in this letter than in any other letter. These are internal management issues," he said.
He said such letters are written some of which contain reminders, some suggestions and some criticism.
"No one has violated discipline. People are on the same side. They are on the same page," he said.
Dismissing suggestions that some seniors have been ticked off, he said, "Many ideas come, which everybody shares."
Mr Khurshid also dismissed questions on whether there was need for a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on the issue.
In the letter to Mr Dwivedi yesterday, the AICC secretaries said, "We, the undersigned, have been observing and feeling very strongly that, of late, there comes a statement from different rungs of Congressmen which is not in the interest of the party.
"If there is any concern it should be expressed in a very dignified manner and at an appropriate place within the party forum... but surely not in the way as has been done by some of our respected senior Congressmen."
The talk in AICC is that some general secretaries like CP Joshi and Madhusudan Mistry, who are close to Rahul, share the views of the young AICC secretaries.
It was apparent there has been some course correction as the contents of the letter was much subdued and instead of the AICC secretaries directly writing to all senior leaders, Mr Dwivedi was handed the same for forwarding to others.
Digvijaya Singh, who came under attack from the young AICC secretaries, had tweeted yesterday, "I support the demand of Secretaries of AICC. Generational Change must happen. It has been a pleasure working with my Secretaries in the AICC.
"Thank God younger generation of Congress now demanding Generational Change which I have been suggesting since Burari AICC in 2009 December."