As expected, the Congress Working Committee(CWC) meet on Monday turned out to be a stormy affair with things happening that has never happened before. When the strict members only, standard closed-door, no-phones allowed CWC went digital amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the proceedings appeared to be leaky, with notable information being aired live on TV.
The already tumultuous situation became overwrought as the CWC led to some finger-pointing on top leaders. Meanwhile, some tweets, some solely to be withdrawn, were posted by individuals within the long and careful consideration or discussion.
The confidentiality issue of the meet was raised by senior members like organisation common secretary Okay C Venugopal and Ahmed Patel who referred to images and details about proceedings being reported live.
Patel further said that the leaks will be probed as some of the pictures that surfaced on the internet showed congress chief Sonia Gandhi addressing the meet.
Before the CWC details leak, the dissenters’ letter to Sonia Gandhi who sought “a full-time, visible leadership” also had disclosed on the internet. Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was one of the signatories, also slammed the minute-by-minute reporting of the proceeding.
This attempt was considered by some to argue that besides letter, a lot has been compromised due to lack of security.
The situation worsened when Rahul Gandhi accused the dissenters of “colluding with BJP”. He also claimed that Azad had offered to resign if Gandhi could “prove his involvement with BJP”.
Senior member Kapil Sibal, who is one of the leaders behind the letter but isn’t a member of CWC, withdrew an angry tweet saying that Rahul Gandhi personally informed him that the remark wasn’t attributed to him.
“Rahul Gandhi says we are colluding with BJP. Succeeded in Rajasthan High Court defending the Congress party. Defending party in Manipur to bring down BJP Government. Last 30 years have never made a statement in favour of BJP on any issue yet ‘we are colluding with the BJP!'” Sibal had said in a now withdrawn tweet.
However, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala dismissed the tweet by saying: “Rahul Gandhi hasn’t said a word of this nature nor alluded to it. Please don’t be misled by false media disclosure and misinformation being spread. But yes, we all need to work together in fighting the draconian Modi rule rather than fighting and hurting each other than the Congress.”
According to some sources, a former MP and a senior functionary, who had close links with media, were responsible for sharing the screen shot of the virtual meeting and leaking the information.
