Congress leader Anand Sharma has expressed “shock and disgust” over the protest outside senior minister Kapil Sibal's house. The leader’s house was attacked by the Congress party members over criticism of the Gandhis.
Sharma on Twitter said that the attack is a dishonour to the party.
Requesting Sonia Gandhi to take strong action, Anand Sharma tweeted saying, "Shocked and disgusted to hear the news of attack and hooliganism at Kapil Sibal's house. This deplorable action brings disrepute to the party and needs to be strongly condemned.”
"Congress has a history of upholding freedom of expression. Differences of opinion and perception are integral to democracy. Intolerance and violence is alien to Congress values and culture. Those responsible must be identified and disciplined," wrote the former Union Minister.
Sibal on Wednesday while addressing a press conference in Delhi, said that the G-23 group was not formed of men doing ‘Ji huzoor’. “We don’t have a president. So, who’s taking the decisions? We all know and yet we don’t know. We want a CWC meeting for a dialogue to take place,” Sibal stated.
The former Union minister has also clarified that the G-23 leaders do not plan to exit the party.
Many leaders have publicly attacked Sibal for questioning the leadership from which he had benefited earlier.
“My appeal to Mr Sibal and others like him is that they should not denigrate the organisation which has given them political identity by rushing to the media every then and now,” Congress general secretary Ajay Maken said.
These episodes highlight the internal conflict fuming in the party as it is struggling with the crisis in Punjab, after the sudden resignation of its state chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and two-time chief minister Amarinder Singh citing repeated humiliation by the party. The state will go for polls in the next few months.
Sonia Gandhi has remained the interim chief since 2019 after Rahul Gandhi, her son left the position over the party’s straight second national election defeat.