Congress sees tussle between young and old leaders

For example Digvijay Singh questioned Rahul Gandhi's lack of media visibility contributing to the Congress' loss in the war of perception

Upset with certain senior leaders in the party, who questioned Rahul Gandhi's leadership and aired their opinion in public in the wake of the Lok Sabha elections debacle, a group of young Congress secretaries has rallied behind the party vice-president. More than a dozen All-India Congress Committee secretaries have been brainstorming in the national capital and would be writing to “senior leaders” in the party to stop the blame game and “work collectively” in the hour of crisis. Congress general secretaries Digvijaya Singh and Janardan Dwivedi had publicly commented on internal party affairs causing embarrassment to the leadership. While Singh had attributed Rahul Gandhi’s lack of media visibility for the rout, Dwivedi had suggested that leaders above 70 should take a backseat in favour of the young.  The group met twice in the capital in two days: First at Punjab Bhawan and then at the AICC headquarters. The group includes Shakeel Ahmed Khan, Sanjay Kapoor, Zubair Khan, Shubhankar Sarkar and Prakash Joshi.

Khan told Business Standard: “All of us feel that opinions should be voiced within party forums: There is the Congress Working Committee or the party leadership can be approached.” Dismissing a split in the party, Congress spokesperson Shobha Ozha said, "Rahulji is our leader. The party will grow under his leadership and we will come back to power...There is no doubt about Rahul Gandhi's leadership."

“Instead of indulging in blame game we should train our energies to perform the role of a constructive Opposition and work collectively to expose the new BJP-led government,” said Khan.