Cong's G-23 meets on way forward

New Delhi, March 11

A day after the Congress’ poor show in the five-state polls, leading G-23 members met today and “expressed shock at the defeats and continuing isolation in the national political landscape.”

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Sources said the informal meeting was held at the residence of former Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad. It was attended by former ministers and MPs Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari and Haryana ex-CM Bhupinder Hooda.

Rajya Sabha MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh was also present. MP Shashi Tharoor was away travelling. The sources said the leaders “discussed the way forward for a united Congress to revive itself.”

It is learnt that they expressed “deep shock at the party getting consistently weakened and isolated. They noted that had their proposal on organisational revamp taken seriously, the Congress would not have lost in all five states. The leaders also noted that the AICC committee reports on losses in West Bengal and Kerala had not even been made public.

“The reports have not been shared with the Congress Working Committee even verbally,” a source said, adding that accountability for losses needs to be fixed.

There is a likelihood of the CWC being called soon to discuss the losses, it is learnt.