New Delhi: The Congress’s top decision making body, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), will hold a meeting at 4 pm as to discuss on huge defeat in the state polls, and is also likely to advance internal elections scheduled in September amid renewed questions about its leadership.
According to media reports, Congress was likely to select a new party chief for the Congress elections which is scheduled August-September. However, the process may now be advanced by two-three months, in the Congress Working Committee.
Earlier, the Congress party had denied the media reports that the Gandhis – Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra – are going to resign today.
Rahul Gandhi, who stepped down as the Congress President after the party’s poor showing in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, does not hold any official post in the party.
The massive rout in the five assembly polls has revived searing criticism of the Gandhi family and growing clamour for a complete overhaul and a leadership change by number of party leaders – a demand that was so far confined to the “G-23” or group of 23 “dissenters” who had written to Sonia Gandhi two years ago.
In the Congress Working Committee, Gandhi “loyalists” massively outnumber the “dissenters”. There are only three members from the “G-23” in the 68-member extended top decision-making body – Anand Sharma, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mukul Wasnik.
“There will be no course correction,” said senior Congress leaders, who is speaking out within the party against the Gandhis’ leadership but do not want to come on record.
Some of the dissidents met at veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s home on Friday evening and reportedly discussed the way forward, expressing dismay at the Congress leadership for not taking any corrective steps to revive the party.
They also reportedly expressed concern that the report of the committee formed to evaluate the losses after the last round of assembly poll defeat in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala and Puducherry were not even discussed in the party.
Just hours before the CWC meet today, the Congress Parliamentary Strategy Group met to discuss the strategy for the Budget Session of the Parliament, which resumes tomorrow. The meet, held at Sonia Gandhi’s house, was attended by Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Anand Sharma, K Suresh and Jairam Ramesh.
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