Congress gag order defied by Manish Tewari, Rashid Alvi

NEW DELHI: The AICC communication department’s attempt to slap a gag order on former party spokespersons such as Manish Tewari and Rashid Alvi triggered a war of words with the two leaders asserting their right to speak out and defend the party as ordinary workers of the Congress. By evening the gag-order was thrown shredded, with the two leaders defending their rights virtually on news channels with reporters too chasing them all around. The turf-war among talking heads is expected to reach the court of the top leadership.

The AICC communication has been for quite some time trying to make a distinction between authorised party spokespersons who spell out the official party line and panelists on TV talk shows. The recent comment by Tewari on the appointment of ex-CJI Sathashivam as Kerala governor was the recent trigger. Yet Tewari, a practising lawyer, was seen regularly being sought by channels to comment on political developments. As far as Alvi is concerned, it is said in Congress circles that ‘a byte-a-day’ was his only political work” these days.

On Thursday, the AICC communication department said “only the designated five senior spokespersons and 13 spokespersons were authorised to speak on behalf of the party.”