'G-23 Is Not Ji Huzoor-23': Kapil Sibal Slams Congress Over Punjab Crisis, Says It's 'Advantage To ISI & Pakistan'

"It is very clear. We are G-23 not Ji Huzoor 23. We will keep talking. We will continue to reiterate our demands," Sibal said while speaking to media.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: Amid the ongoing crisis in Punjab Congress, veteran party leader Kapil Sibal on Wednesday expressed distress over the functioning of the party and also took a jibe at the leadership, saying those who were once considered to be close to the high command are leaving.

He also said what is happening in the border state of Punjab is an "advantage to ISI and Pakistan".

Addressing a press conference, the 'G-23' leader said: "I believe that one of my senior colleagues has either written or is about to write to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to immediately convene a CWC meet so that a dialogue can take place as to why we are in this state," Kapil Sibal said, adding that the party has no president at present and hence he doesn't know who takes these decisions.

Sibal said that 'G-23' will raise issues that need to be addressed. 

'G-23' refers to the group of 23 leaders, including Sibal, Gulam Nabi Azad and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, among others, who had written a letter to AICC interim president Sonia Gandhi last year expressing unhappiness over the functioning of the party.

"It is very clear. We are G-23 not Ji Huzoor 23. We will keep talking. We will continue to reiterate our demands," Sibal said. 

"We (leaders of G-23) are not the ones who will leave the party and go anywhere else. It is ironic. Those who were close to them (party leadership) have left and those whom they don’t consider to be close to them are still standing with them," Sibal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

"One thing should be clear for everyone. We are not the ‘Ji huzoor-23’. We will keep talking. We will continue to reiterate our demands…Every Congress leader of the country should think as to how the party can be strengthened. Those who have left should come back because Congress alone can save this republic," he said.

Further speaking about the ongoing political crisis in Punjab, the senior party leader said: "A border state where this is happening to Congress party means what? It is an advantage to ISI and Pakistan. We know the history of Punjab and the rise of extremism there… Congress should ensure that they remain united."

G-23 is a group of disgruntled Congress leaders, including veterans like Sibal and Ghulam Nabi Azad, who wrote to the high command that the party needs to elect its president.

Sibal's remarks came amid the ongoing political drama in Congress Punjab unit with series of resignations including Captain Amarinder Singh and now Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu quitting the post expressing dissatisfaction with the cabinet picked by new CM Charanjit Singh Channi.