Manish Tewari and Rashid Alvi rejected the statement issued by the head of the media cell, Ajay Maken, that only party spokespersons should speak to media on different issues.
"Only the spokespersons as in the linked list are authorized to speak on behalf of the party," Maken tweeted putting out a list of 18 designated spokespersons.
However, it drew angry responses from Tewari and Alvi who asserted their right to speak their mind on important developments.
"I ceased to be the national spokesperson of Congress in October 2012. When I intervene in the public discourse, I do as an ordinary Congress worker who has served the party for 34 years. There are certain core convictions I believe in. When they are assaulted, I do not require a noun or an adjective behind my noun (sic) to intervene in public discourse as a party activist," Tewari tweeted.
He also said that he had never posed as a party spokesman.
Alvi was equally defiant. "I always defend Congress party as an ordinary worker, and I will continue to defend Congress party. I feel it is my responsibility as this is a very crucial time as communal forces have not only taken over the country but are spreading communalism," he said.
While the tweets were being seen through the prism of rivalries among individuals, the bid to prune the number of those who can speak on behalf of the party and the opposition to it underlined the leadership's weakening hold.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi with her son and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
The need to enforce message discipline has been acutely felt in the wake of a whole procession of senior leaders — from Digvijay Singh and Sheila Dikshit to Janardan Dwivedi — as well as a group of pro-Rahul office-bearers speaking in contradictory tones and taking positions which have not been thrashed out by the party or were at odds with the party's official stance.
While Digvijay Singh surprised many by rushing to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handling of the floods in J&K, Dikshit undercut the party's opposition to the prospect of BJP forming government in Delhi by saying that the saffron party should be given a chance if it managed the necessary numbers in the assembly.
Manish Tewari.
Tewari also disagreed with the party's shrill criticism of the appointment of former CJI P Sathasivam as Kerala governor, while the usually reticent Kamal Nath confirmed ex-CAG Vinod Rai's claim that former PM Manmohan Singh did not act to prevent the 2G scam despite having been forewarned about the consequences of the then telecom minister A Raja's conduct.
Rashid Alvi.
Sources confirmed that the growing propensity to speak out of turn was the trigger for the "gag" order.
Although Tewari does not really fit the mould of a dissident, sources feel he must have been chaffing at what his supporters call maneuvers to sideline him.
But many in the party and media — going by the questions directed at spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed — feel that the attempt to enforce message discipline does not take into account the information void which leads reporters to Tewari rather than those who sport the tag of "official spokesperson".
The former I&B minister has emerged as the go-to-man for the media, particularly TV channels with a voracious appetite for bytes. That he is bilingual and gets into "action mode" quickly serves the needs of media. Although not as prolific, Alvi is also accessible and can hold forth on diverse issues.
http://ift.tt/1s6L9Ub Alvi,Manish Tewari,Congress Gag Order on Spokespersons,Congress
Stay updated on the go with The Times of India’s mobile apps. Click here to download it for your device.
No comments:
Post a Comment