Kapil Sibal Takes On Congress Leadership; Says People No Longer See The Party As An "Effective Alternative"

Turning the heat on the incumbent leadership of the Congress party, its senior leader and former union minister Kapil Sibal yesterday (15 November) said that the party's poor performance in Bihar Assembly elections and by-polls in several other States showed that people no longer saw the party as an "effective alternative", reports Indian Express.

Speaking in a no-holds-barred fashion, Sibal went on to say that the party leadership was not addressing the problems facing the party. He said that the party knows the problems besetting it and the answers to them, but it not willing to recognise them.

It should be noted that Sibal was one of the 23 senior party leaders who had written an unprecedented letter to the interim party president Sonia Gandhi demanding sweeping changes in the party's functioning. The leaders had demanded a full time and effective leadership which would be both, 'visible' and 'active' in the field.

Referring to the same, Sibal said, "Some of us put our pen to paper and said what should be done in the Congress on the road ahead. Instead of listening to us, they turned their back on us. The results are for all to see."

Sibal stressed that the time for 'introspection' was over, asserting, "If for six years the Congress has not introspected, what hope do we have for introspection now?"