Cong to have new energy after Chintan Shivir: G-23 leader Vivek Tankha

A day ahead of the Congress 'Chintan Shivir' in Udaipur, the party's 'G-23' dissident group member, Vivek Tankha, on Thursday said he wants the organization to get a new and strong look after the brainstorming session.

The Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh expressed confidence that his party would come out with new vigour after the three-day 'Chintan Shivir' which begins on Friday.

Tankha was among the 23 Congress leaders, considered dissidents, who wrote a letter to party president Sonia Gandhi in August 2020 seeking an organizational revamp. " I am heading to Udaipur to take part in the Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir. We are hopeful that the party will come out with new energy after the event, he told reporters here. The 65-year-old lawyer-politician said he will everything possible to infuse a new life in the Congress. I want to see the Congress in a new and powerful avatar because the Congress is the natural party of governance in India. If we want to keep the country intact, the Congress has to be powerful again, the former advocate general of Madhya Pradesh said. Asked whether the Congress needs a non-Gandhi president to come out of the crisis after losing a string of elections, he said, I won't comment on this as this matter is decided by the Gandhi family and the party. However, I joined the Congress after being influenced by the Gandhi family."

The 'Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir' is being held in the backdrop of a string of electoral defeats and dissent in the party for the past many years. The Shivir will focus on time-bound party restructuring, finding ways to combat politics of polarisation and getting battle-ready for upcoming electoral challenges. To a question about the sedition law, Tankha, a senior Supreme Court lawyer, alleged governments headed by the BJP were misusing the British-era legislation. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ordered a stay on filing cases under the sedition law (IPC section 124A). Sedition means conspiring against the country. To say something against the government does not amount to sedition. But people are being charged with sedition over trifle issues," Tankha said. On the loudspeaker row, he said, "I do not comment on religious issues. But on this issue, people's wish should be followed within legal framework. It is the responsibility of all of us to maintain peace and harmony in the country. About the demolition of "illegal" constructions of Khargone communal riots accused last month, the Congress MP said it was not right to raze somebody's house without giving him an opportunity to put forth his views.

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