CHANDIGARH, March 22: Several senior Congress leaders today urged their party colleagues, some of whom have started going public issuing statements against the leadership, to exercise caution and restraint lest it demoralise party rank and file and harm the party interests. They also said, it was wrong to single out and blame one particular leader for the electoral outcome as it was the collective responsibility of all.
In a joint statement the party leaders including Mr Laal Singh, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Kewal Dhillon, Rana Gurjit Singh, Rana KP, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, OP Soni, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Sukh Sarkaria, Joginder Singh Panjgraian, Bibi Harchand Kaur, Guriqbal Kaur, Raja Warring, Ajaib Singh Bhatti, Mohammad Sadiq, Ramanjit Singh Sikki and others said as responsible leaders and representatives they should raise the party issues only in the party forum and not in press and public.
The party leaders urged their colleagues that instead of going public and issuing statements in media they should meet the senior leaders in the party high command including the Congress President Ms Sonia Gandhi and put across their point directly to her.
They said, the party is faced with an important and challenging task ahead like the crucial municipal corporation elections, followed by Panchayat and Zila Parishad elections and subsequently the parliamentary elections.
The senior leaders said, this was the time to close their ranks and work in the interest of the party and leave important decisions to the high command and in case anybody had his or her opinion to express about these decisions, it should be directly conveyed to the high command and not raised in public as it sends a wrong messages against the party interests.