The young Congress leaders appeared to blame the party's last government and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for its massive downfall, after which a section of the party rallied for the former PM on Twitter. Party veterans urged their colleagues on Saturday not to discredit their own legacy and said that by doing so they would only be aiding the BJP's designs to undermine the party in the public eye.
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Lawmakers Anand Sharma, Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and former Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora - all ministers in Dr Singh's cabinet at one point - defended the former Prime Minister, tagging criticism for him as "ill-informed" and part of a "motivated and malicious narrative".
Former Mumbai Congress Chief Milind Deora Siad, "When demitting office in 2014, Dr Manmohan Singh said, “history will be kinder to me”. Could he have ever imagined that some from his own party would dismiss his years of service to the nation & seek to destroy his legacy - that, too, in his presence?"
The verbal lashing from the former Minister for Information and Broadcasting comes after a number of party MPs questioned the UPA rule and demanded introspection on Congress debacles.
The members of Team Rahul had asked for introspection when the Congress' Rajya Sabha MPs met on Thursday. The issue of the 2014 election debacle was raised by Rajeev Satav, who was countered by Sharma and others.
The younger leaders reportedly said those who were part of the last United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government should take the blame for the Congress's rapid decline. Some of them also called for Rahul Gandhi's return as Congress president, pointing out that there was no consensus on any other candidate.