NEW DELHI: Congress leader and member of the G-23 faction Sandeep Dikshit said that no pressure has been exerted on the party high command through the G-23 meeting, even after losing the Assembly elections in five states. However, the pressure is only for doing the right thing.
According to him the Congress high command, due to personal reasons, has underutilised good leaders whose thoughts and actions are important to make the party stronger.
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal had also recently said that the Gandhi family should now step aside from the party's leadership role. Talking to IANS about this, Dikshit said: "Every person in a group has the right to put forward their opinion. I have read Sibal's statement. I don't think he has challenged anyone. His interview was not about the group's statement as we have put the statement of the group in front of everyone."
Meanwhile, news of former Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad set to meet the Congress high command on Thursday, has been doing the rounds. However, it is not yet confirmed when they will meet.
Talking about it, Dikshit said that he has no information about the meeting and he "cannot even confirm whether it will happen or not."
While the BJP is busy preparing for the next election, the Congress is struggling to deal with its internal strife.
However, highlighting the democratic nature of his party, Dikshit said: "Congress is a big party, so these problems occur. There is democracy in our party, unlike the rest. We always raise questions here, which is not possible in other parties. Is it? Therefore, it is common to have conflict within groups where different people bring different approaches to the table."
On Wednesday, the Congress's G-23 group discussed its strategy for the Gandhi family at a meeting held at Ghulam Nabi Azad's residence.
Later a statement was released by the G-23 leaders, saying: "We believe that the only way forward for the Congress is to adopt a model of collective and inclusive leadership and decision-making at all levels. This is necessary to strengthen the Congress party. We demand that the Congress initiates dialogue with like-minded forces to create a platform to pave the way for a credible alternative in 2024."
According to Dikshit, G-23 is a group which cares about the Congress party and invests more time in the party than focusing on fulfilling its own selfish ends.
"Although our current situation is not very pleasant and we have become weaker in the last few years, we have to work harder to build our place here, as the mindset of the people havs changed now, " he said.