Lucknow: “Rise above the affinity for the family,” said nine expelled Uttar Pradesh Congress leaders in a written letter to Sonia Gandhi and asked her to lead the party by establishing mutual trust and restoring constitutional and democratic values.
This is yet another letter days after senior Congress leaders challenged the Gandhis’ management style, calling for “full-time, visible leadership”.
“Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi built the Congress and the country with democratic values. But it is ironical that, for some time the way in which the party is being run, there is confusion and depression among ordinary party workers,” the UP Congress leaders, including former MP Santosh Singh and former minister Satyadev Tripathi, said in their letter.
Singh and Tripathi were among 10 senior leaders expelled from the primary membership of the party in November last year, for allegedly tarnishing party’s image.
“When the country’s democratic values and social fabric is lying scattered, the need of the country is that Congress remain alive, dynamic and strong,” they said.
“Please rise above the affinity for the family, and as per traditions, restore the expression of thoughts, constitutional and democratic values, and run the organisation by establishing communication and mutual trust,” the leaders added.