NEW DELHI: The Congress dissident bloc G 23 Thursday condemned the protest outside the residence of senior colleague Kapil Sibal, calling it orchestrated and demanding party chief Sonia Gandhi take action against those responsible.
While in a spate of tweets from the letter writers did not mention who was behind the protests that they called orchestrated, the allegation appeared to be pointing at the AICC managers. The protests broke out Wednesday night after Sibal addressed a press conference in which he demanded organisational elections while saying that the party was headless and facing a crisis.
While Sibal refused to react, Ghulam Nabi Azad tweeted, “I strongly condemn the orchestrated hooliganism @KapilSibal’s residence last night. He is a loyal Congressman fighting for the party both inside and outside the Parliament. Any suggestion from any quarter should be welcomed instead of suppressing; hooliganism is unacceptable.”
Crucially, P Chidambaram who is not part of G23 also slammed the incident. “I feel helpless when we cannot start meaningful conversations within party forums. I also feel hurt and helpless when I see pictures of Congress workers raising slogans outside the residence of a colleague and MP. The safe harbour to which one can withdraw seems to be silence.”
Deputy leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma, asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi to take action. “Shocked and disgusted to hear the news of attack and hooliganism at Kapil Sibal’s house. This deplorable action brings disrepute to the party and needs to be strongly condemned. Congress has a history of upholding freedom of expression. differences of opinion and perception are integral to a democracy. Intolerance and violence is alien to Congress values and culture. Those responsible must be identified and disciplined,” he said.
Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari said, “Those who are trying to defend the ‘command performance’ last night, This is what happened @KapilSibal ‘s house – They damaged the car. Stood on top so it caved in, Threw tomatoes both outside and inside the house. If this is not hooliganism, then what else is it?”
While in a spate of tweets from the letter writers did not mention who was behind the protests that they called orchestrated, the allegation appeared to be pointing at the AICC managers. The protests broke out Wednesday night after Sibal addressed a press conference in which he demanded organisational elections while saying that the party was headless and facing a crisis.
While Sibal refused to react, Ghulam Nabi Azad tweeted, “I strongly condemn the orchestrated hooliganism @KapilSibal’s residence last night. He is a loyal Congressman fighting for the party both inside and outside the Parliament. Any suggestion from any quarter should be welcomed instead of suppressing; hooliganism is unacceptable.”
Crucially, P Chidambaram who is not part of G23 also slammed the incident. “I feel helpless when we cannot start meaningful conversations within party forums. I also feel hurt and helpless when I see pictures of Congress workers raising slogans outside the residence of a colleague and MP. The safe harbour to which one can withdraw seems to be silence.”
Deputy leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma, asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi to take action. “Shocked and disgusted to hear the news of attack and hooliganism at Kapil Sibal’s house. This deplorable action brings disrepute to the party and needs to be strongly condemned. Congress has a history of upholding freedom of expression. differences of opinion and perception are integral to a democracy. Intolerance and violence is alien to Congress values and culture. Those responsible must be identified and disciplined,” he said.
Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari said, “Those who are trying to defend the ‘command performance’ last night, This is what happened @KapilSibal ‘s house – They damaged the car. Stood on top so it caved in, Threw tomatoes both outside and inside the house. If this is not hooliganism, then what else is it?”