Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Sonia to meet dissenters today, discuss key issues
NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi is scheduled to meet on Saturday, in one of the most anticipated internal meetings for the party, at least seven of the 23 signatories to an August letter seeking more hands-on leadership and a clearer revival path.
The decision to have the first discussion on the issues raised by the senior leaders in the letter was taken more than a week ago, according to the two leaders invited for the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Gandhi was open to the idea but she did not want it to be a big meeting since she has been avoiding large gatherings, one of the leaders said. “Since the pandemic started, Mrs Gandhi has not had any in-person meetings. Even when someone went to see her at home, they sat in different rooms and spoke on the phone,’’ said one of the two leaders.
A spike in pollution levels in Delhi even forced the Congress president to leave the city for some time for Goa.
Rajya Sabha MP and senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad (one of the signatories to the letter) drew up a list of representatives, a second leader said, adding that Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma, Lok Sabha MPs Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tiwari, Haryana CLP leader and the state’s former chief minister Bhupinder Hooda, Maharashtra’s former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Vivek Tankha were expected to attend. Tharoor confirmed his attendance. Another Congress leader and signatory to the letter,
Kapil Sibal, will be travelling outside the country (he leaves Saturday morning) and will therefore not attend.
The meeting will be held on the lawns of her residence at 10, Janpath. HT learns that all leaders attending the meeting have undergone testing for Covid-19.
The meeting will also be attended by other senior Congress leaders. Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath confirmed that both he and former Union finance minister P Chidambaram will be attending. The party’s general secretary ( organisation) KC Venugopal, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, and former defence minister AK Antony are also scheduled to attend. While Rahul Gandhi’s team didn’t confirm his attendance, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is expected to attend.
“We expect to have sincere engagement,’’ said one of the two leaders.
“A discussion on the road map to revive the party is required because our footprint cannot be diminished. We are concerned and the results of various elections, Bihar, Kerala and UP, have vindicated what we said.’’
He added: “The letter was triggered by the fact that Mrs Gandhi’s interim term of a year was coming to an end and Rahul had indicated he didn’t want to come back as president. So, we all wanted to know what’s next.’’
One of the other signatories to the letter said he does not expect much to come out of the meeting. But many of the others are more hopeful and see the meeting as an indication that the party’s leadership is willing to listen to their concerns. While the letter didn’t attack Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi directly, it did point out the failure of the party to discuss the real reasons behind the 2019 Lok Sabha election loss.