Janardan Dwivedi asks Rahul Gandhi's brigade to refrain from giving advice through media

NEW DELHI: The old guard at the Congress retaliated with skill and precision on Friday to neutralise a move by a group of young leaders, who wrote to party general secretaries asking them to stay away from making public comments that are perceived to be critical of the Rahul Gandhi-led leadership.

In a reply to a joint letter from 14 secretaries, Janardan Dwivedi, the AICC general secretary in charge of organisation who is among the targets of the Rahul brigade, told the group to refrain from giving advice to the leadership publically through the media. With this, the old guard has slapped an official gag order on the wannabe Young Turks.

In this reverse show of strength, Team Rahul has also been shown that it can’t have a different ground-rule within the party. Dwivedi has displayed considerable operational tact and organisational correctness while dealing with the issue, typical of the well-entrenched old guard.

Dwivedi, whom the secretaries handed over their letter on Thursday for circulating it to other general secretaries, started Friday by doing that and a little extra – he sent copies of the letter to all AICC general secretaries, working committee members, state chiefs and heads of all Congress frontal organisations. Dwivedi’s reply to the 14 is designed to convey that they too have been indulging in what they have advocated the seniors against.

Dwivedi has deftly advertised to all top Congress leaders that the 14 secretaries have been put on notice. Dwivedi did this in the form of a covering letter that he sent to the general secretaries along with the joint letter.

In that he wrote: “I am sure all the colleagues will take their views with due sensitivity. I am also issuing separate letters to them (the 14), advising that in future they should refrain from giving such advice publically through the media”. While Dwivedi issues what looks like a gag order to the 14, he just “hopes” the senior leaders to show “due sensitivity” to the juniors’ views.

“Yes, we agree, nobody, I mean nobody should air negativity,” said an AICC general secretary, who is part of the old guard. Dwivdi’s letters had an immediate impact as none of the 14 secretaries is now willing to make public comments and others aren’t offering them any support.

There are indications that many senior leaders were in touch with each other following the 14 daring them. They are now planning to convey their feeling to party chief Sonia Gandhi when she returns to Delhi next week from a trip. The fact that the Rahul brigade could collect only 14 of the 41 AICC secretaries for the joint venture has further advertises their failure to garner wider support.