At Kapil Sibal's Home, Car Damaged In Protests After Criticism Of Gandhis

Soon after Congress leader Kapil Sibal taunted the Gandhis with his "G-23, not Ji Huzoor-23" comment, party workers protested outside his house with "Get well soon" placards, threw tomatoes and damaged his car.

Workers of the Youth Congress also raised slogans of "Leave the party! Come to your senses!" and "Rahul Gandhi Zindabad!"

Mr Sibal had earlier called the media and raised a series of questions against the backdrop of the Congress's Punjab meltdown. "In the Congress there is no elected president now. Who is taking calls? We don't know who is taking decisions in the party," he had said.

"We are G-23, definitely not Ji Huzoor-23. We will keep raising issues," said Mr Sibal, shooting punches at the Gandhis without naming them.

After the protests by his own party workers, Mr Sibal told NDTV: "I don't get rattled with this drama , I have been very careful in what I have said."

The Gandhis have often been accused of ignoring advice from anyone outside their inner circle, at a huge cost to the party. "Ji Huzoor (yes, boss)" was a dig at this alleged coterie.

The charge has often been spotlighted by the G-23 or Group of 23 letter writers who had written to Sonia Gandhi calling for sweeping changes in the organization and its leadership.

In Punjab, with an election just four months away, a series of disastrous decisions saw Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra backing Navjot Singh Sidhu versus stalwart Amarinder Singh, who subsequently quit as Chief Minister and accused the party of humiliating him thrice. Yesterday, Mr Sidhu stunned his bosses by quitting as Punjab Congress chief, barely two months after taking charge, leaving the party further adrift in a poll-bound state where it was in a strong position even months ago.

"Punjab is a border state. Pakistan exploits the situation," said Mr Sibal, echoing Amarinder Singh's criticism of the party for handing the reins of Punjab to Mr Sidhu.

Amarinder Singh met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday, fuelling massive speculation that he was on the verge of a switch. On record, however, the Captain said the meeting was on the farm law protests.

In recent weeks, the Congress has lost leaders like Sushmita Deb and Luizinho Faleiro to the Trinamool Congress. The nosebleed started when Jyotiraditya Scindia, one of Rahul Gandhi's closest confidantes, switched to the BJP last year. Earlier this year, Jitin Prasada followed and is now a minister in the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. In Rajasthan, the party is living with the threat of the Ashok Gehlot versus Sachin Pilot feud exploding any time.

Even as Mr Sibal addressed the media this afternoon, Mr Faleiro, a veteran Goa leader, was being welcomed aboard by the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata.

"Why are people leaving? Maybe we should see whether it is our fault? We have to immediately call a CWC (Congress Working Committee), at least so a dialogue can take place. We won't leave the ideology of the party and go anywhere else. The irony of the Congress is that the chosen ones, those who are close to them (Gandhis) have left and those who they think are not close to them are still there," Mr Sibal said.

"We won't leave the ideology of the party or go anywhere else. The Congress is the only party that can save this republic because the present dispensation is destroying the foundations of our republic."

The "G-23" wrote an unprecedented letter last year to Sonia Gandhi asking for a "visible and effective leadership". Since then, various leaders have reminded the Gandhis that nothing has changed on the ground and the Congress down spiral continues in state after state. On Wednesday, a second letter was written by Ghulam Nabi Azad to Mrs Gandhi calling for a CWC to discuss the election of a full-time Congress president.

"I am really very, very upset that I have to come to you. But we have no choice. I can't see the Congress in this situation," Mr Sibal told reporters.

Congress leaders said workers went to Mr Sibal's house on their own as they "were hurt" by his comments.

Youth Congress chief Srinivas BV said on Twitter, "Listen ''Ji-Huzoor'' :- The ''President'' and ''Leadership'' of the party are the same, who always ensured your entry in Parliament, made you a 'minister' during the good times of the party, when in opposition, ensured your entry into Rajya Sabha, always rewarded with responsibilities in good and bad times. And when the ''time'' came for struggle, then..."