From Navjot Kaur Sidhu To Mani Shankar Aiyar: Congress Leaders Who Openly Criticised Rahul Gandhi

Last Updated:February 17, 2026, 11:24 IST

Expelled Congress leader Navjot Kaur Sidhu said Rahul Gandhi talks well and talks sense, but what he does and what he says are very different.

Expelled Congress leader and former Punjab minister Navjot Kaur Sidhu is the latest on the list of leaders who have sharply criticised Congress MP and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. Kaur has said she finds it difficult to understand his approach to leadership, alleging he does not treat everyone equally or remains open to conversation.

Criticising Gandhi for “being disconnected from ground realities", Kaur said, “I think it’s very important to be grounded. What’s happening at Ground Zero is very important… You can’t be living in a dream world."

“If you are not aware of what is happening beneath you… then I’m sorry, you don’t deserve that chair," she added.

She further said Rahul Gandhi talks well and talks sense, but what he does and what he says are very different. She claimed that for the past eight months she had been seeking time to tell him that the party president or the person appointed in Punjab is not doing justice to the state and is destroying the Congress in Punjab.

Kaur is not the first Congress leader (now expelled) to have spoken out against Rahul Gandhi. While the G-23 members have openly been critical of Gandhi, there have been other Congress leaders who have spoken against him or have parted ways from the Congress, hitting out against the leadership.

Congress Leaders Critical Of Rahul Gandhi

Mani Shankar Aiyar

Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar recently explicitly distanced himself from Rahul Gandhi’s current leadership style. He said he considers himself “Gandhian, Nehruvian and Rajivian — but not a Rahulian," signaling disagreement with the way Rahul Gandhi embodies party leadership today. “There is a biography of Dr Ambedkar which says ‘a part but apart.’ So that’s the only thing I can say. Mr Rahul Gandhi has forgotten that I am a member of the party, and therefore I am a Gandhian, I am a Nehruvian, I am a Rajivian, but I am not a Rahulian," Aiyar said while speaking to ANI on Monday.

Bhupen Borah

Senior Assam Congress leader Bhupen Borah on Monday submitted his resignation from the party citing dissatisfaction with how things were being run — a move that was widely interpreted as indirect criticism of the party leadership (including Rahul Gandhi’s role). However, he withdrew his resignation within hours after the party intervened.

Shakeel Ahmad

After leaving the party following the 2025 Bihar polls, Shakeel Ahmad had labelled Rahul Gandhi a “darpok" (coward) and insecure leader. He alleged that Gandhi avoids direct engagement with senior leaders who disagree with him and instead relies on a small inner circle of advisers. Ahmad had further claimed that Rahul Gandhi is an “insecure" leader who sidelines experienced politicians and promotes only those considered loyalists. According to him, this culture discouraged open dialogue within the party and weakened state units — particularly in Bihar, where Congress has struggled electorally. He also criticised what he described as “remote-control politics," arguing that key decisions are taken without adequate consultation with ground-level leaders. Ahmad suggested that unless the leadership style changed to allow more internal democracy and consultation, the party would continue to face electoral decline.

Furkan Ansari

A senior and longtime Congress leader from Jharkhand, Furkan Ansari had openly criticised Rahul Gandhi after the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls, blaming central leadership, including Rahul Gandhi, for the poor performance. He questioned Gandhi’s ability to connect with people, criticised the reliance on MBA advisers in his office, and said the party needed to rethink its strategy and advisers to strengthen itself.

“Do they know how to connect with the voters at the ground level? It would be better if Rahul keeps a politician as his advisor to give him the right political suggestions," he had said.

The Jharkhand Congress had issued a show-cause notice to him for publicly criticising party leadership.

G-23

The G-23 (Group of 23) was a bloc of senior leaders within the Indian Congress who, in August 2020, wrote a letter to interim party president Sonia Gandhi calling for sweeping organisational reforms. While the letter was addressed to Sonia Gandhi, it was widely interpreted as a critique of the party’s functioning under the Gandhi family’s leadership — including Rahul Gandhi. Senior leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal and Anand Sharma are part of this group that has questioned Rahul Gandhi’s leadership.

News politics From Navjot Kaur Sidhu To Mani Shankar Aiyar: Congress Leaders Who Openly Criticised Rahul Gandhi

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