Senior Congress leaders held a two-hour deliberation at Hotel Taj Ummed on Monday to chalk out a strategy to counter challenges to the state party leadership emanating from certain quarters within the party. Among those present at the meeting were the three ministers from Gujarat in the Union Government and former Union Textile Minister Shankersinh Vaghela.

The meeting came in the wake of utterances by former MP Madhusudan Mistry that state party president Siddharth Patel was neglecting the interests of caste groups, and some Muslim leaders from Ahmedabad and other places complaining about him.

The leaders said that while it was the right of the individual members and party leaders to speak out their grievances and seek redressal, they should raise it at appropriate party fora or with the leadership rather than rush to the media. Mistry was told to wait for the party’s reaction about his concern for representation of caste groups in the party

The four MLAs, Farooq Sheikh, Sabir Kabuliwala, Gayasuddin Shaikh and Javed Peerzada, who had aired grievances against Patel, were absent in the meeting as they were not invited.

Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Shaktisinh Gohil, said the party leaders had held parleys among themselves about the issue and had prepared certain strategies to deal with it. But he did not elaborate about the strategies.

When questioned if the leadership will initiate disciplinary action against those going to the media against the party leadership, he said the Congress party believed in internal democracy and every member had a right to air his/her grievance.

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