Is Jammu visit a 'show of strength' for G23 leaders?

Senior Congress leaders and members of G23 group Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Bhupinder Hooda, Manish Tewari and Vivek Tankha have accompanied Azad on his visit to Jammu. But there seems to be a twist in the story as Azad has taken other members of Congress' G23 along with him, which indicates a fresh revolt of dissenters against the party's high command.

New Delhi: After over a year, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has gone to his homeland for a series of public meetings in Jammu. But there seems to be a twist in the story as Azad has taken other members of Congress' G23 along with him, which indicates a fresh revolt of dissenters against the party's high command.

Senior Congress leaders and members of G23 group Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Bhupinder Hooda, Manish Tewari and Vivek Tankha have accompanied Azad on his visit to Jammu. The veteran Congress leader received a warm welcome in his home state with lots of enthusiasm even from the youngsters.

Interestingly, the people who came there to welcome Ghulam Nabi Azad were seen holding posters with his image but there was not even a single mention of Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi. Even the venue has been carefully chosen by the leaders. This can be seen as a 'show of strength' by the Congress dissenters against the party leadership.

Officially, these Congress leaders have gone to Jammu to take part in a public programme which has been organized by a non-government organisation, Gandhi Global Family Foundation. Ghulam Nabi Azad is the President of this organization who is going to be in Jammu for a 3-days visit.

The dissenters have not even invited Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief, so far, to the event. This clearly shows that these leaders are opening a separate front to show a revolt against the party line.

This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave an emotional speech in Parliament for Ghulam Nabi Azad during his farewell in Rajya Sabha. Congress' rejection to offer a Rajya Sabha seat to Azad from another state has somehow affected the sentiments of many leaders of G23.

In addition to this, the post of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha has also been given to Mallikarjun Kharge, who is considered to be one of the closest aides of Rahul Gandhi, which technically should be given to Anand Sharma, for being the deputy LOP and his just one year tenure has been left in the upper house. Sharma is believed to be hurt by the fact that he was overlooked for the post.

Some of these dissenters are also disappointed with the fact that none of these senior leaders have been consulted for the upcoming polls. Randeep Singh Surjewala was being chosen over Azad, who is well versed with DMK, for negotiation in seat-sharing in Tamil Nadu.

Recently, a stir had also erupted over Rahul Gandhi'sNorth-South' remark, for which Kapil Sibal and Anand Sharma indirectly disagree with his comments while concerning its impact in the upcoming assembly polls.

However, the Congress party is not taking any official stand over this move of dissenters. While many of the Congress leaders refused to comment over the matter, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera had replied that each person has the right to go anywhere. But this has clearly indicated that there is something wrong within the party and their differences are not going to be filled up soon.