Sheila Dikshit's son Sandeep calls for change in Congress leadership, receives support from Shashi Tharoor

Speaking to The Indian Express, Sandeep Dikshit hit out at the Congress leadership saying, "sometimes you want inaction because you don’t want a certain action to happen."

Feeling that there are plenty of leaders in the Congress party who could take the responsibility of running the party, Dikshit said, "I’m actually feeling rather dismayed by our senior leaders. They must come up. Most of them, those who are in Rajya Sabha, those who have been former Chief Ministers, even some of our current CMs who are very senior, I think it is time for them to come up and go the extra mile for their party.

There is Amarinder Singh, Ashok Gehlot, Kamal Nath…why don’t they get together, get other people around? There is (A K) Antony, (P) Chidambaram, Salman (Khurshid), (Ahmed) Patel…all of them have done great for the Congress. They are in the evening of their politics, they probably have another four or five years to go.

I think this is a time for them to intellectually contribute…they can go into the process of leadership selection, either at the centre or in states or elsewhere."

Dikshit found support in Shashi Tharoor, who is the party's Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, who once again gave a call for an election to the Congress president's post.

Tharoor tweeted, "What ⁦ @SandeepDikshit said openly is what dozens of party leaders from across the country are saying privately, incl many w/ responsible positions in the Party. I renew my appeal toCWC to hold leadership elections to energise workers&inspire voters."

At an event in Kolkata earlier in the month, Tharoor had revealed that he was the one who had asked the Congress to hold an election to the president's post after Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi stepped down following a disastrous result in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

He had said, "I had said 'let the elected members be at least elected'. They have been nominating them for a long time now."

"...I do believe that the process of election within the party will energise the workers giving them a sense that they are having a say in their own political destiny, determining their leaders and at the same time massively enhance the interest in the public in the party. There is a merit in saying that the electoral process can be a very useful way of just galvanising interest and attention and indeed stimulating energy amongst the party faithful," the Congress veteran had added.

Disagreeing with Tharoor, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam felt it was only Rahul Gandhi who can revive the party.

Nirupam tweeted, "Its inane discussion. No one from outside the family can lead @INCIndia at this juncture. @RahulGandhi is the only leader who can lead the party and can save it. Other leaders are just a group leader & such leaders at the helm will encourage more groupism. Period !"