Congress Should Target BJP with Surgical Strikes, Not Its Own: Kapil Sibal on Jitin Prasada Backlash

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, a key member of 'Group of 23' that has sought an urgent organisational overhaul, on Thursday said it was "unfortunate" that the party was targetting its own member Jitin Prasada when it needed to target the ruling BJP with "surgical strikes".

Prasada, a former union minister, was also among the signatories to the letter that sought an active and full-time party president among other changes. He is also a special invitee to the Congress Working Committee, where the 23 letter writers were dissed on Monday on various issues concerning their communication including its timing.

"Unfortunate that Jitin Prasada is being officially targeted in UP. Congress needs to target the BJP with surgical strikes instead of wasting its energy by targeting its own," Sibal said on Twitter. Reacting to it, another Congress leader, Manish Tewari who was also a signatory to the letter, tweeted a single word "Prescient". While Prasada did not make any comment himself, he retweeted the posts of Sibal and Tewari.

The Lakhimpur Kheri District Congress reportedly passed a resolution demanding action against Prasada, a leader from Uttar Pradesh, and has accused his family of being against the Gandhi family. Jitendra Prasada, the father of Jitin Prasada, had also unsuccessfully contested for the post of Congress president against Sonia Gandhi in the past, the District Congress Committee reportedly said. The charge was made days after the Congress Working Committee urged Sonia Gandhi to continue as party president and bring about organisational changes.

(With inputs from PTI)