G-23 can exist only in Congress: Rahul Gandhi

Breaking his silence on the “dissent” within the party, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that such a frank exchange of ideas was possible only in the Congress party.

“Today, there are a group of 20 people who have a different view of the Congress party. Do you think they could exist in the BJP? Do you think they could exist in the BSP? Do you think they could exist in the TMC,” Gandhi said during an interaction with the faculty and students of Brown University.

“No, they cannot exist in any other party except the Congress. In Congress, we say ‘we do not agree with you but the negotiation cannot stop. It has to go on,” the former Congress President said.

A group of 23 leaders had written a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi seeking a more visible leadership and demanded sweeping changes in the organisation, including elections for the post of the President and the Congress Working Committee.

The leaders, led by former J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, have been highlighting the shortcomings in the Congress through their public remarks in their bid to seek changes in the organisation.

Gandhi asserted that he had a role to play in Congress and would continue to push for new leaders in the party.

He deftly stepped aside from the leadership issue and insisted that no one from the Gandhi family had been prime minister since 1989.

“I defend an ideological current in the Congress party. … I do not take kindly to the idea that just because my father was someone, I do not get to defend that idea,” Gandhi said.

The former Congress President said he had pushed for internal democracy within the party and was “mauled” for doing it.