New Delhi, Nov 19 (IANS): In wake of its dismal performance in the Bihar Assembly elections as well as the string of bypolls, the battle lines seem drawn in Congress as many leaders are questioning the party organisation while many others have sided with the leadership.

Congress floor leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury slammed senior leader Kapil Sibal, who had questioned the leadership, for "attacking" the party, saying that those have problems could join another party while former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram also raised concerns over the party's deteriorating situation at the ground level and pointed out its weak organisational structure.

He also had pointed out that the party should have taken winning seats only, albeit lesser in number.

Several Congress leaders, especially from the state, have been vocal on the issue, and some have blamed the leaders from Delhi. Former Bihar Minister, Shakiluzaman Ansari had even called Shaktisinh Gohil, the state in charge, and Avinash Pandey, the chairman of the screening committee, the main culprits.

Both Chidambaram and Sibal had also expressed concern on the bypolls , where the Congress was wiped out despite being in direct contest with the BJP.

On Tuesday, the group, constituted by party's interim chief Sonia Gandhi to assist her, including Ambika Soni, Randeep Surjewala, K.C. Venugopal and Mukul Wasnik, met virtually to discuss the Bihar results as well as the bypolls.

Sources say that Bihar in-charge Gohil and Gujarat in-charge Rajeev Satav offered to quit, but were told to hold on till Gandhi took stock of the situation.

On the other hand, many leaders have come to the defence of the leadership, including the Chief Ministers of party-ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh who slammed Sibal for going public.