Ajay Maken hits back at Sibal, defends Gandhis

New Delhi: After senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal launched attack on Congress leadership, party General Secretary Ajay Maken has hit back and said it was Sonia Gandhi who ensured Sibal made union minister.

Reacting to Kapil Sibal's press conference earlier in the day, Maken said, "the Congress leadership is listening to everybody in the party, and wanted to tell that they should not degrade the organisation which gave them back so much."

Earlier addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Sibal said, "There is no president in our party, so we do not know who is taking all the decisions. We know it, yet we don't know, one of my senior colleagues perhaps has written or is about to write to the interim president to immediately convene a CWC meeting so that a dialogue can be initiated."

He appealed to those leaders who quit Congress to come back to the fold and said, "its ironic to say that we are going to leave the party. Those who were considered close to the top leadership have left the party and those who were not considered close are still standing with the party. We are G-23 and not Ji-huzoor 23."

Taking cue from the Punjab crisis, Sibal said that the border state where this is happening is an advantage to the ISI and Pakistan as everybody knows the history of Punjab and the rise of extremism in the state. Congress should ensure that they remain united to safeguard the interests of the state, he added.

Sibal said that he is speaking on behalf of those Congress members who wrote the letter in August 2020 and are waiting for the action to be taken by the leadership in respect of the election of the office of the president, to CWC and central election committee.