Shiv Sena in it's editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana' has alleged that the letter written by 23 senior Congress leaders to Sonia Gandhi which demanded a "full time" party president is a "conspiracy to finish off Rahul Gandhi's leadership".
Twenty-three senior Congress leaders, including chief ministers, sitting MPs and former Union ministers, had written to interim party chief Sonia Gandhi calling for full time and effective leadership, visible and active in the field, elections to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and an “institutional leadership mechanism” aimed at the party’s revival.
The editorial slammed the 23 dissenters and asked,"Where were these leaders when BJP made attacks on Rahul Gandhi that were "below the belt". Why did these 23 dissenters not take up the challenge to revive the party after Rahul quit as the Congress president.
"When leaders from within your own party are involved in the national conspiracy to finish off Rahul Gandhi's leadership, the party will surely face its defeat... these 23 leaders have sabotaged Rahul Gandhi internally, a damage which even the BJP hasn't inflicted on him," it said.
The 23 leaders who wrote to Sonai Gadhi, none of them are even district-level leaders, but have become chief ministers and Union ministers riding on the leadership of the Gandhi-Nehru family, the editorial said.
"In all states, Congress leaders are interested only in their position and not of the party. If they don't have their way, they shift to the BJP. This is the only activeness they show. What can Rahul and Sonia Gandhi do about it? This is a new political coronavirus," it said.