Chennai: In the first contact between the Congress leadership and the dissident G-23 group after the rout in the recently concluded 5-State Assembly polls, party chief Sonia Gandhi is learnt to have spoken to senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Though reports said a meeting between Sonia and some of the leaders was on the cards, the G-23 leaders said the ‘only way forward’ for the party was to adopt a model of ‘collective and inclusive leadership and decision-making at all levels.’
The leaders, who met at the residence of Ghulam Nabi Azad demanded the Congress initiate a dialogue with ‘like-minded forces to create way for credible alternative for 2024 Lok Sabha polls’.
‘In order to oppose BJP, it is necessary to strengthen the Congress party,’ they also said.
The statement was signed by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Sandeep Dixit, PJ Kurien, Kuldeep Sharma, Vivek Tankha, MA Khan, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Raj Babbar and Prithviraj Chavan.