Ghulam Nabi Azad, the leader of the G-23 collective of dissenters in the Congress, on Friday said after meeting party president Sonia Gandhi that he had never raised questions about leadership, singing a tune different from his comrade Kapil Sibal who has bluntly asked the Gandhi family to step aside.

Azad said: “It was a good meeting with the Congress president. It may be news for you but it was a regular, usual meeting with the president. The discussion was on how to strengthen the Congress and prepare for the upcoming elections. There was no question on leadership. No one in the Congress Working Committee had asked Mrs Gandhi to quit.”

Azad has always maintained in public and private conversations that he is not against the Gandhi family’s leadership and that the G-23’s cause is limited to strengthening the Congress organisation.

Azad, as well as other members of the group of dissenters, have refused to endorse Sibal’s views. It is, however, a fact that some other G-23 members do have serious reservations about Rahul Gandhi’s leadership.

Sonia had last year asked Ambika Soni and K.C. Venugopal to discuss outstanding issues with Azad but that exercise foundered at the very outset because the G-23 members suspected the absence of sincerity of purpose. Azad continued to lead the G-23 to act like a separate bloc within the Congress.

Azad’s meeting with Sonia after the CWC session is a positive sign as one of the main grievances of the G-23 was lack of communication with the leadership. Some of their members strongly resented that Sonia and Rahul had refused to reach out to them while other party functionaries attacked them viciously.

The loyalists were of the opinion that the dissident activities had stretched far too long and some of the members had crossed the line.

Senior leader Digvijaya Singh had asked Azad at the CWC meeting to resolve differences and stop these activities soon.

Rahul had also met Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Haryana leader and a key member of the G-23, on Thursday, indicating that the party too was keen to close the unseemly chapter and begin afresh to rejuvenate the organisation.

The dissidents have become hyperactive after the outcome of the elections in five states, mounting pressure on the leadership to take corrective steps without any further delay.

Sonia has promised a large-scale reshuffle soon and decided to consult all shades of opinions before finalising her decision. The G-23 would like to ensure sufficient accommodation in the organisational machinery but sources say rehabilitation of most of these leaders appears difficult despite the planned overhaul.

Sonia may finally persuade Rahul to change some of his key advisers and also constitute a new mechanism for decision-making, like the parliamentary board. Some general secretaries, states’ in-charge and heads of departments are going to be changed.

The G-23 has been extremely critical of recent decisions that were allegedly taken without discussions in the party.