new Delhi, The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the top policy-making body of the Congress, on Sunday urged party president Sonia Gandhi to brainstorm on the party’s crushing defeat in the recent assembly elections. Gaya that he should remain the President till the organizational elections are over and take necessary steps to strengthen the party.
According to party’s organization general secretary KC Venugopal, it was also decided in the CWC meeting that a ‘Chintan Shivir’ would be organized as soon as the budget session of Parliament is over, in which the future strategy will be decided. The meeting of the CWC, the top policy-making body of the Congress, chaired by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, lasted for more than four and a half hours at the party headquarters. After the meeting, Venugopal told reporters that everyone reposed faith in Sonia Gandhi’s leadership and urged her to make necessary changes to strengthen the party. He said that a ‘Chintan Shivir’ would be organized immediately after the budget session of Parliament.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that every leader reposed faith in the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and urged her to continue as the president till the organizational elections are over. He said that in the meeting the in-charges and senior leaders of each election state presented a comprehensive report before the CWC.
Surjewala said that it has been the feeling of the party leaders and workers that Rahul Gandhi should take over the post of party president, but the decision of the president will be done only through organizational elections. Apart from Sonia Gandhi, former party president Rahul Gandhi, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and many other leaders attended the meeting.
G23 group leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik also participated in this. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not attend the meeting. Senior leader AK Antony could not attend the meeting due to being infected with COVID 19.
A day before the crucial meeting, a section of the media had reported that the Gandhi family may offer to resign from party posts, although the Congress officially denied the news, terming it as “false and mischievous”. .
Before the meeting, Gehlot, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar and several other leaders demanded that Rahul Gandhi be made the party president again. Senior Congress leader Gehlot said that in today’s time, Rahul Gandhi is the only leader of the country, who is fighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi with full strength.
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Shivakumar tweeted, “Like I said earlier, Rahul Gandhi should immediately take the responsibility of full time president. This is the wish of crores of party workers like me.”
During the CWC meeting, many party leaders and workers gathered near the party headquarters and raised slogans in support of Rahul Gandhi and demanded that he be handed over the reins of the party once again.
The crucial meeting comes at a time when the Congress lost power in Punjab and also faced humiliating defeats in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. Sonia Gandhi has not been campaigning actively for some time now, apart from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rahul Gandhi has been the star campaigner of Congress. Also, the brother-sister duo plays a major role in important decisions of the party.
After the crushing defeat of the Congress in these assembly elections, several leaders of the party’s ‘G23’ group held a meeting on Friday, in which the strategy ahead was discussed. Kapil Sibal, Anand Sharma and Manish Tewari attended the meeting held at the residence of former Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad. (agency)