‘It is time to bell the cat,’ Sandeep Dikshit’s call gets support from Shashi Tharoor; Congress divide out in open

The rift within the Congress seems to be getting wider, ever since the party drew a blank in the recent Delhi Assembly polls.

Party leaders across the country have been sparring with each other, even as infighting has taken grip of the grand old party.

In what further exposes a growing divide and an aggravating leadership crisis in the party, former lawmaker, Sandeep Dikshit has accused senior party leaders of failing to elect a new Congress President during an interview to the Indian Express. 

Hitting out the leadership for not finding a party chief, he said, “What was stopping any of these people from coming together? They could have consulted him (Rahul Gandhi), Soniaji and many of the other senior leaders. Why didn’t that happen? What are you scared of? They are scared that ‘who will bell the cat?’ That is the difference between a statesman and so-called leaders who are only looking for crumbs.”

Now, Thiruvananthapuram MP and Congress and leader, Shashi Tharoor too has backed Dikshit’s comments. He tweeted, “What ⁦@SandeepDikshit⁩ said openly is what dozens of party leaders from across the country are saying privately, incl many w/ responsible positions in the Party. I renew my appeal toCWC to hold leadership elections to energise workers & inspire voters.”

The manner in which a war of words has yet again broken out within the Congress reaffirms how it has become a divided lot. Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson, Surjewala has hit back at Dikshit over his remarks.

He said, “All Delhi leaders need to introspect how much popular support they got when they contested elections. The party will gain a lot if the leaders who are busy criticising the party in the open, instead use this energy to work in their constituency and win popular support.”

Dikshit’s remarks about the leadership crisis within the party and the war of words that followed is essentially an extension of the recent pattern of infighting between party leaders, which largely takes the share of party leaders issuing scathing remarks against each other publicly.

Congress leaders from Rajasthan and Maharashtra to Madhya Pradesh and Delhi have been locking horns with each other over a plethora of issues. While this fallout takes place among Congress leaders, the Gandhis, who are the supreme authorities in the functioning of the party are nowhere to be seen.

Over the past one week or so, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh, Milind Deora from Maharashtra and Ajay Maken from Delhi, and even Sharmishtha Mukherjee and Chidambaram have been seen sparring with each other publicly.

In fact, there were signs of dissensions in the Congress last month itself, when cracks had emerged within the party’s Rajasthan unit as Pilot took a dig at his own government led by Gehlot following the Kota tragedy.

Following Congress’ debacle in Delhi, the split within the party has only become more manifest with several leaders expressing a deep sense of disenchantment, but the Gandhis, the undisputed rulers of the party seem to be in no mood to assuage them.

What Dikshit said triggered another war of words with Surjewala taking a veiled dig at the former MP. However, it can be said that with questions over the lack of potent leadership, Dikshit has exposed the real issue with the Congress.

The crisis of the Congress is essentially a crisis of leadership. The Nehru-Gandhi family is engrossed in serving its own interests, while the party is riddled with infighting and finding it hard to keep the house in order.

Moreover, the sycophants- Old Guard, are not ready to look beyond the Nehru-Gandhi family even though the family is showing no real appetite to lead the party towards a resurgence.

As long as the grand old party doesn’t find inspiring leadership, it will keep grappling with infighting. The Congress almost seems to have fallen apart and runs the risk of an imminent collapse given the lack of any strong leadership to take it forward.