No clarity on internal polls, a level of disenchantment within Congress: Kapil Sibal

Kapil Sibal

Senior Congress leader Kapil Saibal has said even a month after party chief Sonia Gandhi's promise, there was no clarity or response on how the party’s internal elections would be held.

Gandhi had on December 19 met top party leaders and many from the 'Group of 23', who had written to her seeking sweeping reforms in the party.

“I, unfortunately, was not there in the meeting because I was travelling. But I think that we had an open discussion. And obviously, the Congress president, who is at the moment guiding the party, said that there would be an election. Now, we are not clear what these elections are going to be,” Sibal, who was one of leaders to call for the overhaul, told the Indian Express in an interview.

The Congress was thrown into a crisis in August 2020 when the 23 senior Congress leaders, including former chief ministers and Union ministers, wrote to Gandhi demanding a “full time and effective leadership”.

“And since the meeting on December 19, we’re almost one month down the road….we’ve had no response on how and when this will happen. We hope that that response comes in the next few days because it’s very important for the Congress to revive itself as a political force in our country,” Sibal said in the interview.

The former Union Minister said those who felt that the process of revival has started in the Congress should look at what’s happening in the states.

“There is a level of disenchantment. I can talk about Delhi… several leaders have come to me and expressed grave concern about processes in Delhi and want the party to act swiftly. We are all die-hard Congressmen…so that the Congress can be the force that it was, and shall be in times to come. But we haven’t yet got the kind of response that we were hoping,” he said.

After deliberations that went on for seven hours, the Congress Working Committee that met days after the August letter had resolved that  Gandhi would continue as the interim president until a session of All India Congress Committee (AICC) is called within six months.

Days later, Gandhi announced a new set of parliamentary party appointments that were seen as a snub to dissident letter-writers.