A section of the party said some senior leaders have been ensuring that the issue gets centre stage to help them further their own careers.
With the issue of inclusion of caste in the census dividing the party and the government, the Congress leadership, including prime minister Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi, discussed the tricky matter on Friday.
The party's core group met for nearly 100 minutes on the issue on a day when a train accident allegedly caused by Maoists in West Bengal raised fresh alarm over the growing threat posed by the extremists.
Apart from Singh and Gandhi, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, home minister P Chidambaram and defence minister AK Antony attended the meeting.
The meeting was held a day after minister of state for home Ajay Maken created a flutter in the party by writing a letter to young MPs to oppose the inclusion of caste in the census.
There has been no indication so far of any meeting of the Congress Working Committee being planned to discuss the
inclusion of caste in census enumeration or to discuss the Maoist threat.
Meanwhile, a Congress source said there was a need to define the party's stand on the issue of caste in the census in the wake of divergent views being expressed by leaders.
While Union law minister M Veerappa Moily, a backward class
politician from Karnataka, has openly supported the inclusion of
caste in the census, his ministerial colleague Maken, who has an upper-caste background, has strongly opposed the idea.
A section of the party has been charging that certain senior leaders have been instrumental in ensuring that the issue gets centre stage to help them further their own political agendas.
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