Ghulam Nabi Azad condemns Congress hooliganism at Kapil Sibal's home; schools high command

Amid an all-encompassing political crisis in the Congress camp, Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday slammed the party High Command for orchestrating hooliganism in the name of protest outside Kapil Sibal's house. On Wednesday, hours after Kapil Sibal raised questions over the functioning of the Congress, several Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a protest outside his house in New Delhi. 

Ghulam Nabi Azad took to his Twitter handle and condemned the 'orchestrated hooliganism' outside Kapil Sibal's Jor Bagh residence in New Delhi. Azad in his tweet outlined that Sibal is a loyal congressman fighting for the party both inside and outside the parliament and any suggestion from any quarter should be welcomed in the party. Azad is also a part of the G-23 leaders who had sought systemic changes in Congress. 

Before Azad, Congress MP Anand Sharma who is also part of G23 urged party chief Sonia Gandhi to take strong action against Congress workers who protested outside Sibal's house. Sharma condemned hooliganism and said that violence is alien to Congress values. 

Kapil Sibal slams Sonia Gandhi after Congress falls apart

Addressing the media, Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said that a senior member of the 'Group of 23' has written to Congress President Sonia Gandhi for convening the CWC meeting immediately to discuss the party affairs and the exodus. Sibal said the grouping is "not a Jee Huzur 23" and will continue to put forth its views and will continue to repeat its demands.

He said the Congress needs to be strengthened as a strong opposition to take on the government and once again reiterated the demands of the group for holding elections to the Congress president, the CWC and the central election committee.

"In our party at the moment, there is no president. So we don't know who is taking these decisions. We know and yet we don't know. I believe one of my senior colleagues has written to the Congress president to immediately convene a CWC. So that at least some things that we can't speak publicly, we can have a dialogue in the CWC as to why we are in this state," he said.

Sibal said, "We are not 'Jee Huzur 23'. We will continue to put forth our views and will continue to repeat our demands."  

G-23's demands & quashing

23 senior Congress leaders sought 'structural changes', internal election to the CWC even at state levels, the formation of an Independent Election Authority, an institutional leadership mechanism, full-time leadership at the helm of the party. The 23 signatories included Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Rajender Kaur Bhattal, M. Veerappa Moily, Prithviraj Chavan, P.J. Kurian, Ajay Singh, Renuka Chaudhary, and Milind Deora -  belonging from the Congress' 'old guard ' and the 'young guard' (i.e Rahul Gandhi supporters). The group held a set of rallies in Jammu, proclaiming that 'Congress had weakened'. In response, Congress quashed all dissent retaining Sonia Gandhi as chief and moved a resolution to not undermine the party or the Gandhis (Rahul and Sonia).

Image: PTI/ANI