Sonia Gandhi held a key meeting with top party leaders today. (File photo)

New Delhi:

Sonia Gandhi today urged Congress state chiefs to focus on discipline and unity “overriding personal ambitions”, in a sharp message as the party battles public infighting in states like Punjab and Chhattisgarh.

The Congress president also commented on what she called “a lack of clarity and cohesion” among state level leaders, reflecting the party’s big worry over its disarray ahead of various states polls. 

“I would like to reemphasise the paramount need for discipline and unity. What should matter to each and every one of us is the strengthening of the organisation. This must override personal ambitions. In this lies both collective and individual success,” Sonia Gandhi, 74, said in her opening statement at a meeting of state Congress chiefs.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi also attended the meeting.

Sonia Gandhi urged party leaders to fight what she called the “diabolical campaign” of the ruling BJP and its mentor RSS or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologically. “We must do so with conviction and expose their lies before the people if we are to win this battle,” she stressed.

On this, she expressed concern that the party’s policies on issues facing the nation did not trickle down to the lowest rung. 

“The AICC (All India Congress Committee) releases important and detailed statements almost every day on issues facing the nation. But it is my experience that they do not percolate down to our grass root cadres at the block and district level. There are policy issues on which I find a lack of clarity and cohesion even amongst our state-level leaders,” she noted.

Sonia Gandhi also urged leaders to provide a platform to young men and women across the nation, saying that they want a movement to give voice to their aspirations. “It is our duty to provide them with a platform, as we have done for generations past,” she said.