A meeting of the Congress Working Committee, chaired by president Sonia Gandhi, and attended by top leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, is in progress. The agenda of the meeting is taking stock of the poll debacle in the five states.
According to sources, it is unlikely that Rahul Gandhi will be appointed as the party president. But senior leaders like Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar showed their support for the Gandhi scion.
As I have said it earlier as well, Sh. Rahul Gandhi should take up the Congress presidency in a full time role immediately.This is the wish of millions of Congress workers like me.RahulGandhi @INCIndia
— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) March 13, 2022
Ahead of the CWC meeting, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot also said Rahul should take over the reins, and that the loss in Punjab was due to “infighting”. He also said questions could not be raised on the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul.
The Congress suffered a rout in Punjab with the AAP romping to power by winning 92 out of 117 assembly seats, while registering a miniscule presence in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur.
Gehlot said, “There are ups and downs in elections. We have seen the time when the Bharatiya Janata Party got two seats. If you talk about Hindutva, polarisation, it is easy to win elections.”
Sources have said the CWC will be taking responsibility for the dismal performance, and dates for new elections will soon be announced. On Saturday, the Congress strongly refuted media reports claiming that Sonia, Priyanka and Rahul will hand in their resignations at the CWC meet.
Leaders of the G23, who have been demanding an organisational overhaul, had also met on March 11 at the residence of senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to discuss their strategy ahead of the crucial meeting.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel as well as Rajya Sabha MP KC Venugopal, senior leaders Rajeev Shukla and Pawan Bansal, Jharkhand in-charge Avinash Pandey among others are attending the meeting.
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