The very public breaking of ranks by senior leaders over the Congress’s top leadership and its stewardship of the party seems to have prompted the Congress President Sonia Gandhi to paper over the dissension and appoint openly critical colleagues in important advisory panels.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) announced the constitutions of three internal panels — on Finance, Foreign Affairs and National Security — which included leaders critical of the stewardship of the party by the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

P Chidambaram, who recently talked about the Congress’s dismal performance in the Bihar Assembly elections and the by-polls elsewhere, is a member of the party’s internal panel on Finance.

Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, who were reported to have been the driving force behind a 23-page-long explosive letter demanding accountability from the top leadership on the Congress’s overall decline, were both included on panels on National Security and Foreign Affairs respectively. This is just after Anand Sharma openly criticised India’s decision to stay away from RCEP although the Congress’s official stand has been against India’s membership.

Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was named a member of all the three panels constituted by the AICC.

Related Topics