‘Letter-writers in league with BJP’: Rahul Gandhi’s jibe at partymen who wrote dissent note

The ongoing crucial Congress Working Committee meeting went on along expected lines with interim president Sonia Gandhi asking the party to pick a new president and senior leaders urging her to either stay or pass on the baton to son and former party president Rahul Gandhi, who in an aggressive intervention, accused the ‘dissidents’ of being in league with the BJP, according to sources.

Rahul Gandhi, 50, questioned the timing of the letter written by 23 senior party leaders two weeks back, in which they questioned the way the party was being run by the current leadership. “Why was the letter sent when the Congress was fighting in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan… why was it sent when Sonia Gandhi was unwell,” said Gandhi, according to sources. The former party president also accused the letter writers of ‘penning the letter in cahoots with the BJP’, sources added.

In her opening remarks, Sonia Gandhi, 73, asked the party to look for a non-Gandhi member to take up the leadership role. In response to the letter written by the 23 ‘dissidents’, Sonia had earlier handed over a letter to KC Venugopal expressing her unwillingness to continue.

This was followed by senior leaders urging her to reconsider this decision, among them being Manmohan Singh and AK Antony. Senior leaders and chief ministers Amarinder Singh, Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel urged Rahul Gandhi to return as part chief and take charge.

Rahul Gandhi had quit as president after a poor show by the party in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which saw him losing from family bastion Amethi. He returned to the Lok Sabha after winning from the other seat he contested, Kerala’s Wayanad.

Since then the party has been run by Sonia Gandhi, an interim arrangement that prolonged for over a year. This period, according to critics,  saw indifferent and ad hoc decisions and a complete lack of vision on how to revive the party, reeling from the Lok Sabha defeat shock.