Dissenters v/s Gandhi loyalists at Congress meet: Know what's happening
What's the story
The Congress Working Committee meeting, which is underway, has turned into a battle between the dissenters, who wanted an overhaul in the organization, and loyalists, who believe only the Gandhi family is capable of handling the reins. At the onset of the meeting, interim President Sonia Gandhi expressed a desire to quit, urging the leaders to look for the next chief. Here's what happened.
Context
Backstory: Congress' leadership crisis catapulted to headlines after unprecedented letter
Congress, which suffered a rout in the last two Lok Sabha polls, had named Sonia as the interim chief after Rahul had resigned. Over a year after she took charge, Congress failed to find her alternative; the leadership crisis prompted senior politicians to write to Sonia, earlier this month. After they called for visible leadership, Sonia offered them to find her replacement.
What happened
Sonia's camp called letter unfortunate, dissenters explained their side
Unsurprisingly, the meeting started off with a discussion on the dissenting note with senior member AK Antony saying that letter was unfortunate and cruel. As he attempted to explain why the letter was drafted, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad offered to resign. His "offer" came after whispers suggested that the top brass believed dissenters were working with BJP.
Tweet
During meeting, Sibal tweeted about Rahul's allegations, sparked an uproar
Soon, another senior leader Kapil Sibal posted a stunning tweet saying that Rahul said they were "colluding with BJP." He wrote, "Succeeded in Rajasthan High Court defending the Congress Party. Defending party in Manipur to bring down BJP Govt. Last 30 years have never made a statement in favor of BJP on any issue. Yet we are colluding with the BJP. (sic)"
Series of events
Surjewala fact-checked Sibal, latter deleted tweet after Rahul's assurance
However, Sibal got a rebuttal from spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala who said Rahul didn't say anything like this. "Pl don't be mislead by false media discourse or misinformation being spread, (sic)" he wrote, quoting Sibal's tweet. Thereafter, Sibal deleted his post, saying Rahul personally informed him that he never spoke about BJP's role in the current crisis. "I, therefore, withdraw my tweet," Sibal wrote.
Twitter Post
Sibal deleted tweet after Rahul spoke to him
Was informed by Rahul Gandhi personally that he never said what was attributed to him .
— Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) August 24, 2020
I therefore withdraw my tweet .
Details
Separately, the letter's signatories were slammed for leaking meeting's details
As CWC's meeting turned Twitter into a battleground, the Gandhi family loyalists also charged at dissenters for giving minute-by-minute account to media. Divya Spandana, former social media chief of Congress, tweeted, "Not only did they leak the letter to the media, they continue to feed/leak minute to minute conversations of the CWC meeting that's going on right now to the media. Amazing!" Seemingly, the infighting will continue for long.