So far at least four senior Congress leaders have differed with the party high command's line on the war in Iran and the LPG situation in India.
Rahul Gandhi and even AICC president Malikarjun Kharge are busy attacking the Modi government, party's key leaders Kamal Nath, Anand Sharma, Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari have backed the government's handling of the crisis.
Crux of the story
TWO WARS DIVIDED THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS INTO TWO
"At least these Congress leaders give more importance to national interests than to play politics in time of international crisis," tweeted Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju naming three of them specifically.
See the contrast while Rahul Gandhi has called India's foreign policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership "compromised"; Congress MP from Kerala and a former UN deputy Secy Gen, Shashi Tharoor called it "responsible statecraft".
Congress MP from Punjab Manish Tewari the "government is likely doing the right thing". For his part, Rahul
urged the Centre to condemn Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's killing. Days after Khamenei's death.
India took its time and when the moment came, no less than the foreign secretary Vikram Misri signed the condolence book at the Iranian embassy in New Delhi, marking India’s first official response.
On Thursday, two senior Congress leaders — former Union Minister Anand Sharma and Madhya Pradesh's former Chief Minister Kamal Nath — lauded the Centre's handling of the situation. In a series of posts on X, Anand Sharma complimented the government and called for unity.
He lauded India's diplomatic handling of the West Asia crisis as "mature and skillful".
Kamal Nath was also seen rejecting the Congress's stance on the LPG situation. The Congress high command has been continuously hitting out at the government over the reported LPG shortage.
But Kamal Nath said, "There is no such shortage. It is just an atmosphere being created that there is a shortage."
Of course the BJP leaders used the ammunition to attack the Congress. A former Congressma himself; Jyotiraditya Scindia wrote on X. "It is time for the Congress to stop creating fear and distrust among the people to bake their political bread".
"Now, even Congress leader Kamal Nath has himself admitted that there is no shortage of petrol, diesel, or gas in the country," the Union Minister tweeted.
BJP spokesperson, Pradeep Bhandari, reacted to the ongoing tussle in the Congress and said, "Congress leaders know Rahul Gandhi is an opportunist; Anti-India Man!"
Former Union Minister and Congress leader Ashwini Kumar has openly praised the Modi government's stance on the Iran-Israel war issue while holding a mirror to the Congress party.
The Congress faced a similar situation after India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025, and hit terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 tourists in Jammu and Kashmir in April.
Shashi Tharoor then put the interests of the country above that of the party's and backed the government. That was even as Rahul Gandhi was criticising the government's "political will".
The Modi government decided to form an all-party delegation on Operation Sindoor, consisting of a 59 parliamentarians, to visit several countries and present India's stance.
On Operation Sindoor, Rahul Gandhi accused the government of lacking political will and also said that the attacks were conducted to protect PM Modi’s image rather than to deliver a strong blow to terrorism.
Differing from the stand, both Tharoor and Tewari hailed the operation and the prowess of the Indian Armed Forces. They distanced themselves from the statements of Rahul Gandhi.
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| Rahul with trusted aide K C Venugopal |
On the other hand, the Congress leadership more often took pro-Pakistan line or a stance that sought to give a bigger space to India's western neighbour than it deserves genuinely.
A few days back, Pakistan was in the global spotlight -- at least the Congress thought so - as Islamabad positioned itself as the lead mediator in the US-Iran war.
A few pro-Rahul Congress leaders suggested perhaps India was not doing enough even as compared to Pakistam.
Not only did Pakistan have working relations with both the US and Iran, but it also had a lot at stake in seeing the war resolved and secure passage for its oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.
However, the move seems to have backfired, with Iran declining to meet any US delegation on Pakistani soil.
Moreover, by jumping in as a mediator while having a defence pact with Saudi Arabia, which has been pounded by Iran, Pakistan ended up perhaps upsetting both sides.
Now, Iran as well as its Gulf allies would see Pakistan differently.
Understandably, Saudi Arabia is irked.
The UAE, with which ties have lately come under strain, has rubbed it in by asking a cash-strapped Pakistan to immediately pay back a $3.5 billion (Rs 2.9 lakh crore) loan.
"It seems like Pakistan has massively overplayed their hand," tweeted geopolitical analyst Daniel Bordman.
And in India, Rahul and his close associates have also 'over depended' on Gen Munir's diplomatic strength while underestimating the talent pool of Dr S Jaishankar and others.
The External Affairs Minister briefing an all-party meeting, asserted that India cannot act as a "dalal nation" in geopolitics.
ends
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