Sonia Gandhi trying to set the house in order. After her return from the hospital, where she was admitted for a routine check-up, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi faces the task of pacifying the two warring factions in the party.
The feud between the old guards and the young leaders, considered close to Rahul Gandhi, had intensified after a spat between the two factions at a meeting on Thursday that was presided over by Sonia Gandhi. The Congress chief had remained a silent spectator at the meeting.
After that chief Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had said the party needed to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) collectively and the leaders should refrain from speaking to social media.
Though there was no tweet or public comments on Monday, the issue has not subsided.
“It’s useless to talk about the past. Two elections have taken place. There is no need of a post-mortem,” said a Congress leader.
The Congress leaders, not willing to speak publicly after the tough message, said the party must think ahead and gear up to deal with the political situation it would be facing in the days to come.
However, the crux remained the command over the party apparatus. Senior Congress leaders are worried about their future as the team close to Rahul Gandhi is asserting itself on every issue of the party.
As the reports about exchanges at the Thursday’s meeting of the Congress Rajya Sabha members started filtering out, a tweet war erupted. However, the man in the eye of the storm Rajiv Satav said he didn’t say any of those things that were being attributed to him.
But the party seniors, scarred by two high-profile rebellions by Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot, lapped up the opportunity and went at them hammer and tongs.
But the warning to seniors is stern — they should guide, promote and make way for the younger lot — and conveys that their attack on the party juniors has not gone down well within the party apparatus controlled by Rahul Gandhi.
The younger lot was also asked not to criticise the 10-year regime of the United Progressive Alliance, which was steered under the leadership of Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
The party has told them questioning the UPA government’s performance was unacceptable.
“I will advise friends who are playing twitter, twitter to stop making comments on social media. We have internal democracy. We are not forcing anybody to retire. Present your views at appropriate party fora,” said Surjewala on Sunday. (IANS)