G23 leaders meet top opposition netas at Kapil Sibal's house; electoral unity on agenda

In a big show of strength, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal convened a dinner meeting of top opposition leaders including NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday night. Barring for P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram, all other Congress leaders in attendance were members of the G23 who have demanded an organizational rehaul in the party. This includes dissenters such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik, Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor. 

Thus, this marked the first occasion on which the G23 leaders have directly interacted with the opposition. Organized a day after Sibal's birthday, the dinner witnessed the participation of Pawar, RJD's Lalu Prasad Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja, Omar Abdullah of National Conference, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, AAP's Sanjay Singh, TMC leaders Kalyan Banerjee and Derek O'Brien, DMK's Tiruchi Siva and TK Elangovan and RLD's Jayant Chaudhary. Crucially, representatives of TRS, TDP, YSRCP, BJD and SAD which usually keep a distance from both Congress and BJP also attended the meeting. 

After the opening remarks by Sibal, all leaders stressed the need to get together to defeat BJP in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls as well as the 2024 General Election. Sources told PTI that some leaders lambasted the saffron party for "destroying" democratic institutions and not helping the poor sections of the society during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reportedly, the opposition also lauded the G23 leaders for strengthening the Congress party. This meeting also assumes significance at a juncture when TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is projecting herself as a challenger to PM Modi for the Lok Sabha polls. 

G23 sparks debate in Congress

In a letter addressed to Sonia Gandhi on August 23, 2020, 23 senior party leaders observed that the uncertainly over the leadership and the drift in the party have weakened Congress and demoralized the workers. The letter reportedly mentioned many suggestions such as the need for a full-time leadership available at the national and state headquarters, conducting elections at all levels including the Congress Working Committee and state level, the formation of an Independent Election Authority, and institutional leadership mechanism to guide the party's revival. Despite the high-octane drama at the CWC meeting, it was decided that the Rae Bareli MP will continue as the interim president at least until the next AICC session is convened.

But, the concerns were reiterated by Congress leaders such as Kapil Sibal, P Chidambaram and Ghulam Nabi Azad after the loss in the Bihar Assembly election. Far from addressing concerns, the CWC on January 22, 2021, stated that the election to the post of party president will be held only after the conclusion of the Assembly polls in Assam, Puducherry, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Apart from Tamil Nadu where its alliance with DMK bore fruit, Congress failed to make an impact in the other states. However, the CWC has indefinitely delayed elections owing to the pandemic.