Four states and a Union Territory are set to face Assembly elections in the months of March and April. In this electoral context, the party-leadership in INC is treading cautiously, even as the group of dissenters in Congress-G23 is seeking to fan out in Haryana, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh in the coming weeks. The major flashpoints between the INC and G-23 have been the praise of GN Azad heaped for Modi, and the criticism of Anand Sharma for the political tie-up of the Left-Congress combine with the newly formed Indian Secular front, for the election battle in West Bengal.

Anand Sharma, a former union minister and a leader of the G-23 group of dissenters, which had written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi demanding organizational overhaul, said that the issue of “alliance” with a radical party like the ISF should have been discussed and approved by the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

The meetings in Punjab and Haryana can become particularly problematic for INC, given that these states are the birth-grounds for the ongoing protests by the farmers against the central farm-laws, which has already become almost a political catastrophe for the BJP. G-23 meetings in these states can possibly take away the political mileage stripped from BJP, away from INC.

A series of meetings are being organized by the group of 23 (G23) dissenters in the Congress, in other states on the lines of the one they held in Jammu recently, as the group is planning to raise the pitch against the high command.

Sources who are in knowledge of the deveopment adding that Hooda’s event may spell trouble for the party as he enjoys mass support in Haryana, said, “These meetings will be held before the party’s presidential election, which is scheduled by May-end. Anand Sharma has been asked to arrange one meeting in Himachal Pradesh, Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Kurukshetra and Manish Tewari in Ropar or Anandpur Sahib.”

INC leadership is wary of taking any tough action against the rebels assembled under the G-23 umbrella, ahead of crucial elections in West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry.

One of the party leaders stated, “The build-up by these leaders will fizzle out soon. Taking any disciplinary action at this moment (ahead of Assembly elections) will send a wrong signal to people and draw unnecessary attention. If the party does well in the Assembly election under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, it will automatically subdue the momentum these leaders are trying to build up before the presidential election.”

The dissenters, at the G-23’s Jammu meeting had said that the Congress was getting weaker and that they were working to strengthen it.

High command of INC has refrained from making any harsh comments and instead urged them to work for strengthening the Congress ahead of the Assembly elections. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi, on being asked about Sharma’s criticism attacked the BJP, alleging that it was creating “false propaganda” by dubbing its political opponents as communal and claiming itself to be secular.

The dissenters’ group-G23 has already weakened as some members are unhappy over a few of them articulating their misgivings in public.