The Congress plunged into factional feud after senior Congress leader Anand Sharma questioned the party's tie-up with cleric Abbas Siddiqui's Indian Secular Front (ISF) in West Bengal; senior party leaders openly hit out against his statements. Sharma said that the party "cannot be selective in fighting the communists" and it must do so in all its manifestations, "irrespective of religion and colour", and said such a relation (with Siddiqui) was against "Nehruvian secularism". The Congress is contesting the West Bengal assembly elections in alliance with the left and ISF, but is fighting the CPI(M) in Kerala as the principal opposition party.
Siddiqui, a pirzada at one of the holiest shrines among Bengali Muslims—Furfura Sharif in Hooghly—launched the ISF last month and could become a deciding factor in close contest scenario. West Bengal has 30 per cent Muslim population and can influence the outcomes in around 100-110 seats. Sharma, a former Union minister and a leader of the group of 23 which had written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi demanding organisational overhaul, said the issue of a tie-up with a radical party like the ISF should have been discussed and approved by the Congress Working Committee (CWC). The CWC is the highest decision-making body of the party that takes important decisions of the party. Sharma is a member of the CWC and the deputy leader of the Congress in Rajya Sabha.
Sharma's public denouncement comes immediately on the back of a show of strength by Congress dissidents in Jammu. In a public show of dissent, leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sharma and Kapil Sibal gathered on one stage, saying the party is weakening and they have come together to strengthen it. Congress spokespersons had dubbed the rally as "political opportunism".
Congress responds
Congress leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury hit back at Sharma, saying that those working for the Congress should not undermine the party by remarks in tune with the BJP’s agenda.
He said in a series of tweets: "The CPI(M)-led left front is leading the secular alliance in West Bengal of which Congress is an integral part. We are determined to defeat BJP's communal and divisive politics and an autocratic regime. The left front is allocating seats from its share to the newly formed Indian Secular Front-ISF. Your choice to call the decision of the CPI(M)-led front ‘communal’ is only serving the polarising agenda of BJP."
G-23 members distance from the caucus
Distancing himself from the Jammu meet of G-23 leaders, senior Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily on Monday virtually expressed concern over internal differences in the party spilling out into the open, and backed Rahul Gandhi's return as president of the party. The former Union minister was one of the group of 23 leaders who wrote to the interim President Sonia Gandhi in August last year urging her to ensure "full-time" and "visible" leadership. It had since come to be known as G-23.
Moily, who had also served as chief minister of Karnataka, said the purpose of the August letter was to improve the party, for effective reformation and organisational elections at all levels. "It is not against the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi. We are all with the leadership, we are with the Congress. We are not against them becoming president", he said. Moily noted that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi promised to effect changes in the organisation and hold elections. "I don't think we regret", he said when asked whether he regretted signing the August letter.