Post Congress' debacle in polls, G-23 leaders get active again

New Delhi: After its dismal performance in five state Assembly elections, the Congress' change seekers or the G-23 leaders met on Friday to chalk out the future course of action. The thrust of the discussion was the future course of action for the party. They have been demanding that a full-time, active president should lead the party. Questions are also being raised at the leadership of the Gandhis as state after state the party is losing elections. Prior to this meeting a number of closed-door meetings were held amongst several leaders. The meeting on Friday took place at the residence of Ghulam Nabi Azad. Several more rounds of meetings are expected in the coming days.

Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have been taking decisions within the party. Interestingly, all decisions regarding the recently concluded five Assembly elections were taken by these three.

Several leaders apart from the G-23 signatories also feel that the current scheme of things cannot go on as the party finds itself comatose. The vote share of the Congress in UP further plummeted to 2.33 per cent and it has been reduced to the number seven party. The shenanigans of the high command in Punjab ensured that the party not only lost power but was restricted to 18 seats out of 117 seats. The immediate impact will be that the Congress will not be able to retain the four Rajya Sabha seats in Punjab of MPs who are retiring in the next three months. The party as of now has just 35 seats in the Rajya Sabha. Similarly the party will get no Rajya Sabha nominations from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur too.

The Congress has steadily been losing elections since 2012, but this time questions are being raised directly on the leadership of the party. Though elections for the post of Congress president are slated to be held later this year, many party leaders are not happy at the way the party is being run. The juggling of leadership roles within the Gandhi family is becoming an issue and leaders are demanding answers.