'Letter Writers' Snubbed As Sonia Gandhi Makes Key Parliament Appointments; Sibal, Tharoor Sidelined

Former minister and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, who was also a signatory to the letter, did not find a place in the strategy committee.

Image: PTI

New Delhi: Two days after the chaotic CWC meeting, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi formed a five-member panel in Rajya Sabha including her confidants and lifting two younger MPs to senior position in Rajya Sabha. The move sends out a clear signal to the letter-writer group of leaders who challenged her leadership. Congress has brought party veteran Ahmed Patel and party General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh in Rajya Sabha Committee, which will also include Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and party's deputy leader Anand Sharma. Azad and Sharma are signatories to the letter that demanded an overhaul of the Congress party and a new "full-time and visible" party president. They were attacked by party leaders in the Congress Working Committee meeting on Monday, where some even sought action against them. Jairam Ramesh has been appointed the chief whip in Rajya Sabha, a post that fell vacant after Bhubaneswar Kalita quit the party and joined the BJP. Former minister and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, who was also a signatory to the letter, did not find a place in the strategy committee. The group will take a call on the party's floor strategy with sources saying the idea is to strengthen floor management. In the Lok Sabha, Gandhi elevated party MP from Assam Gaurav Gogoi and made him the deputy leader of Congress, while Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu was made the party's whip. The two, along with leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, chief whip K Suresh and another whip Manickam Tagore would form a five-member Committee of floor leaders in the lower house. As per news agency PTI, party leaders have said that it is a move by the Congress to strengthen its team of floor leaders in the Lower House, adding it is also a message to dissenters like Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari in Lok Sabha and Azad and Sharma in the upper house. OnThursday, Ghulam Nabi Azad, had pitched for elections to the Congress Working Committee and key organisational posts of state chiefs, district presidents, block presidents and said that those opposing are afraid of losing their positions. (inputs from agencies)