‘Truth is we see party getting weak’

New Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI): The Congress is “getting weak”, Kapil Sibal said at a public event in J&K on Saturday, as members of the G-23 – senior leaders who have questioned the Gandhis’ leadership style – shared a stage and calls to strengthen the party before polls in Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and Assam. The meeting also comes days after the BJP lashed out over Rahul Gandhi’s remark about Kerala voters. In August last year a number of Congress leaders – Sibal among them – triggered a rift in the party after writing to interim chief Sonia Gandhi, to ask for “full time” and “visible” leadership. Last month it was decided a new chief would be elected in June, after the forthcoming elections, but this was after calls for immediate organisational polls were overruled. “The truth is that we see the Congress getting weak. That is why we have gathered. We gathered earlier too and we have to strengthen the party together,” Sibal said. “Our voice is for the betterment of the party. It should be strengthened… We have seen the good days… do not want to see it weakening as we become older,” Anand Sharma said. Apart from Sibal, Sharma and Babbar, the group that took to the stage on Saturday included former Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad, current Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha, Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari, and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. All these leaders are from north India.