Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal convened a dinner meeting of top opposition leaders including NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday night. All Congress leaders, except P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram, were in attendance in the meeting who are members of the G23 who have demanded an organizational rehaul in the party.
Among those likely to be present at the gathering are several of the so-called “G-23” leaders, who had voiced their opinion against the party’s leadership just a few months back. This includes dissenters such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik, Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor. Many Congress leaders who are not signatories are also likely to attend. 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. The opposition also lauded the G23 leaders for strengthening the Congress party and also got significance at a juncture when TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is projecting herself as a challenger to PM Modi for the Lok Sabha polls.
