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Punjab Congress leader Sunil Jakhar on Wednesday cautioned the party bosses against engaging ‘too much’ with the G-23 group of dissenting leaders or else, he said, this would have a negative effect on the grand old party. “Indulging the dissenters--'too much'--will not only undermine the authority, but also encourage more dissent while discouraging the cadre at the same time,” Jakhar posted on Twitter. The former state unit chief also shared a couplet. “There is no problem in relenting (or discussing). However, don't relent so much that the door falls,” a rough translation of the couplet, posted in Hindi, read. Jakhar's warning to the Congress leadership came a day after Sonia Gandhi, who heads the party, met Manish Tewari and Anand Sharma, two members of the so-called G-23 group. Also, last Friday, Gandhi met Ghulam Nabi Azad, another leader from the group. In the wake of the Congress' defeat in the five state polls, including Punjab, which voted it out of power, the group has held several meetings. While nothing substantial has come out of the meetings, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body in the party, on March 13, ‘unanimously’ turned down the Gandhi family's offer to resign from their respective posts.
The defeat in Punjab means that the Congress now has full governments in only two states: Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. In Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, it is a junior member of the ruling alliances. In Maharashtra, it is in partnership with the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) while in Tamil Nadu, it is a part of the DMK-lead coalition.
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