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Sonia vs Digvijaya Over Nitish : Congress CWC Sees Sharp Difference of Opinion
New Delhi : A difference of opinion reportedly emerged between senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Digvijaya Singh during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting over Nitish Kumar’s decision to leave the INDIA bloc in January 2024. According to reports from the meeting, Digvijaya Singh said the opposition alliance should not have allowed Kumar to leave and suggested that the political situation could have been different had he remained with the bloc.
Singh also indicated that accommodating Kumar’s political aspirations, including his reported interest in becoming the alliance’s convener, might have helped retain him. Sonia Gandhi reportedly took a different view, saying Kumar’s departure was ultimately inevitable and that he had been looking for a way to leave the alliance.
Reports also quoted her as saying that it was better that he left when he did. The discussion refers to the political shift in January 2024, when Nitish Kumar withdrew from the Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar and joined hands with the BJP to form a new government, taking oath as Chief Minister for the ninth time. The exchange came amid a wider CWC discussion on the Congress party’s political strategy and its opposition to the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The Congress Working Committee adopted a resolution calling for the suspension of the SIR exercise and restoration of voter names that the party says were removed from electoral rolls, and also demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. These are Congress’s allegations and demands; the Election Commission has maintained that differences or observations during its deliberations are part of institutional processes and that its orders have legal sanction.
The CWC meeting was attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders as the party prepared its response to the ongoing electoral-roll controversy. The issue was also expected to feature prominently in the INDIA bloc meeting in New Delhi on September 30, where opposition parties were set to discuss a coordinated strategy concerning the Election Commission, SIR, EVMs and VVPAT.
The reported Sonia-Digvijaya exchange therefore adds another layer to the Congress’s internal discussion about its past alliance strategy, while the wider opposition remains focused on electoral-roll and Election Commission-related issues.
