Rahul Gandhi is believed to have responded to the letter bomb thrown by 23 senior Congressmen by suggesting organisational elections at all levels.
As the Gandhis gathered forces in the Congress Working Committee (CWC) where the letter writers that included senior party leaders such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Shashi Tharoor, M Veerappa Moily, Manish Tewari et al were pilloried, Rahul Gandhi is believed to have suggested that the party should go for an election from the booth to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and the President of the party. Congress sources said the next meeting of the CWC is likely to appoint a Central Election Authority to conduct the polls.
Battle lines drawn
Battle lines have been drawn between both the camps even though the party claimed after a unanimous resolution adopted by the CWC on Monday that party reposed the faith in leadership of the Gandhis.
Sources in the Rahul Gandhi camp said an election will expose the base of the leaders who tried to challenge the Gandhis. “Rahul Gandhi is for an organisational election. He is for accountability. He has been consistently against crony capitalism, communalism and exploitation.,” said a Congress leader close to Rahul Gandhi.
He said Rahul Gandhi set an example by taking responsibility for the 2019 defeat, but no one else who were equally responsible were not ready to do so. “This Delhi clique will be exposed if proper elections are held. They do not have any support in their own States. Let us see how they are going to face a poll,” he added.
On the other hand, one of the signatories told BusinessLine on the condition of anonymity that it is high time that there is an effective leader. “Congress is for all. It does not belong to one person. Every member has a stake in the party,” he said. He added that the fight will continue till democracy is retained.
Their main complaint is that though Sonia Gandhi is the interim president, decisions are still taken by Rahul Gandhi and it is difficult to meet him for communicating an organisational or political problem. Top leaders complain that going through KC Venugopal or Randeep Singh Surjewala to meet Rahul Gandhi cannot be accepted by them. They claim that delay in taking decisions by the high command has often helped the BJP.
They say that if the party comes back to power, Rahul Gandhi will be the candidate for the Prime Minister's post but for that party has to work like a machine. That is the reason why they insisted for an effective leadership at the top.