Amid the campaign for Delhi Assembly elections, the Congress is facing serious organisational issues with two general secretaries of the party, Janardan Dwivedi and Ajay Maken, sparring over remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Maken has indicated that the Congress may take disciplinary action against Dwivedi for his remarks in an interview to a website on Wednesday that the BJP’s victory is a victory for Indianness.

Dwivedi maintained that he was ‘misquoted’ but his successor in the AICC communication department, Maken, told reporters here on Thursday the high command will soon decide on disciplinary action against the former.

The BJP, meanwhile, has welcomed the new trend in the Congress of praising Modi and his government.

Old guard

Maken and Dwivedi are seen to represent two factions within the Congress. While Maken is for a generational shift in the party, Dwivedi is seen as the leader from the old guards, who favour status quo in running the party.

Maken told reporters from the AICC podium that the party condemns the statements made by Dwivedi.

“What Dwivedi has said is totally opposite to the Congress’ idea of Indianness. The victory of Modi can by no stretch be the victory of Indianness,” he said and added that Modi can never become the symbol of Indianness.

He further said equating Modi to Indianness is against the ideology of the Congress. The party leadership has a clear understanding of Indianness, as laid out by former PM Indira Gandhi in a speech in 1970, he added.

“It is totally different from the ideology, stand and thinking of the Congress party.

“It is totally opposite the thinking of the Congress party,” he said and added: “How can anyone be talked of as symbol of Indianness under whose leadership the national capital witnesses such incidents and whose ministers speak objectionable language and are not proceeded against?”

Soon after Maken’s press conference, Dwivedi told reporters at his room in the AICC headquarters that he has been misquoted.

He, however, declined to comment further on the controversy, maintaining that he was only trying to give an objective analysis of the 2014 election results.

BJP welcomes comment

While welcoming such comments, the BJP said the Congress stand towards Dwivedi’s comments makes it clear that the Congress does not have internal democracy.

“There is internal rift in the Congress on Dwivedi’s statement. This rift is only because there is no inner party democracy in the Congress. It is not there today, it never was.

“We cannot expect the Congress to have democracy and shared values of democracy within the party.

“At the same time, one should speak good words about good deeds by opposition parties or leaders,” Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters.

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