Congress cracks whip on warring leaders

Congress on Sunday cracked the whip as the internal discord in the party over successive electoral losses came out in the open with party veterans and young leaders jousting over social media.

Young leaders of the Congress rallied behind Rajeev Satav who had kicked off a storm on Thursday last by calling for introspection over UPA’s 10-year-rule when the party organisation was neglected, leading to its present condition.

A Twitter war broke out among Congress leaders with a group of former UPA ministers calling for “educating” the young leaders about the party legacy. Satav also made it clear that he had never questioned the legacy of Singh or UPA and had termed reports suggesting to the contrary as “malicious”.

“I will advise friends who are playing twitter-twitter to stop making comments on social media. We have internal democracy. Present your views at appropriate party fora,” Randeep Singh Surjewala, chief spokesman of the Congress told reporters here.

He also reminded the senior leaders that it was not the tradition of the Congress to forcefully retire anyone.

“The senior leaders of the Congress have a greater responsibility. They have excelled within the government as well as the organistation and were are keen followers of them,” Surjewala said.

The seniors have a greater responsibility of holding a mirror to the government at a time when it falters in dealing with challenges posed by Covid-19, Chinese transgressions and the economic crisis.

“This is of utmost importance and senior leaders have the responsibility to guide the young leaders, encourage them to move ahead and make way for them,” Surjewala said.

Satav, newly elected to the Rajya Sabha, had called for introspection on the decimation of the Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which was seen by senior leaders as raising questions on the UPA legacy.

Former union ministers Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Milind Deora had rallied behind Singh and slammed those questioning the UPA legacy.

But Satav hit back calling the reports “malicious” as he slammed the senior leaders for dragging the name of Singh into the debate, Satav was supported by Lok Sabha member Manickam Tagore, Mahila Congress President Sushmita Dev and AICC Secretary Vamshi Chand Reddy.