With the dissident G-23 group of Congress leaders calling for “collective and inclusive leadership and decision making” at their meeting on Wednesday, the attempts of the Congress high command and Gandhi family loyalists to shield the family from responsibility for poll debacles is facing a determined pushback. Though Sonia Gandhi has reportedly reached out to Ghulam Nabi Azad, a detente had appeared unlikely after Kapil Sibal’s remarks suggesting that the family step aside. But by calling for collective leadership the dissidents appear to be worried that a maximalist position could end up isolating them.

Interestingly, the G-23 meeting saw some new faces like Shashi Tharoor, Mani Shankar Iyer, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Shankarsinh Vaghela and Preneet Kaur in attendance. The presence of the high-profile Tharoor who has an audience among middle-class Congress supporters and Iyer, who has been close to the family for decades, could be a signal that the G-23’s views are getting more traction. That there were five former chief ministers at the meeting was also not lost on political watchers.

Sonia’s moves like demanding the resignation of the PCC presidents who helmed the party in the five states has also triggered questions of why the accountability doesn’t stretch to Rahul or Priyanka Gandhi who were responsible for a number of controversial decisions that ended up hurting the party. Going by Congress’s history till the 1990s leading to Sonia Gandhi’s takeover of the party, dissidence targeting the central leadership has culminated in acrimonious splits or ousting of incumbent presidents. The next moves of the Congress leadership and the G-23 will reveal how this new chapter in Congress’s internal intrigues end.

Read also: Only way forward for Congress is collective, inclusive leadership: G23 leaders after meeting

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