Battle rages in Cong ahead of CWC meet

Sonia ‘resignation’ denied, many want her to remain president; letter-writers face flak; clamour for Rahul

The internecine battle being played out within the Congress Party came to the fore on Sunday just a day before the all-important working committee meeting on Monday. Insiders claim that interim party chief Sonia Gandhi has already asked her aides to instruct the CWC to find her successor, but chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala rubbished all claims about Mrs Gandhi tendering her resignation. This development comes in the backdrop of several senior leaders writing to Mrs Gandhi demanding a “full-time” and “effective leadership” that will be “visible” and “active” in the field. However, last year, when Mr Rahul Gandhi had resigned as party chief accepting responsibility for the 2019 Lok Sabha election debacle, Mrs Sonia Gandhi had reluctantly accepted the post of interim president. Fiery scenes are expected at the “virtual” CWC meet on Monday where the demand for Mrs Gandhi to stay put will be raised.

Interestingly, the letter does not attack either Mrs Sonia Gandhi nor Mr Rahul Gandhi but it is being seen as a ploy to stop Mr Gandhi from taking over party’s reins once again. For the record, Mr Gandhi has stated that he doesn’t wish to take over as party president. Insiders claim many leaders are upset as Mr Gandhi is still active and taking several decisions within the party, which “creates confusion” and leads to “dual power centres”. The latest issue was that Mr Gandhi chaired a meeting on the Bihar elections with state leaders without any specific directions.

The chants to make Rahul Gandhi party president have already started. Several leaders, including Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, have demanded that Mr Gandhi take over as party chief. Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh said a strong Opposition was needed in the country and Mrs Gandhi should continue and eventually Mr Rahul Gandhi should take over. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has also demanded that Mrs Gandhi remain as party chief. Speaking to this newspaper, former Union law minister Ashwani Kumar hit out at the authors of the letter, and said: “The timing and motivation of the letter are suspect and this is not the time for an electoral exercise which is potentially divisive.” These developments ensure that even before the CWC meeting a large number of Congressman have publicly taken on the authors of the letter. In all likelihood, the CWC will pass a resolution on Monday asking Mrs Gandhi to continue as party chief.

In the letter sent a few weeks ago, which was

■ Continued from Page 1 publicly revealed over the weekend, around two dozen Congressmen made some farreaching suggestions to Mrs Sonia Gandhi to revive the organisation, sources said on Sunday. They said over-centralisation of the organisation and micro-management had always proved to be counterproductive, and that uncertainty over the leadership has “demoralised the Congress workers and further weakened the party”.

They were also critical of the way the Congress Working Committee, the party’s top decision-making body, was being constituted and was functioning. Highlighting the gravity of the challenges facing the party, they said that it was “imperative” to urgently establish an institutional leadership mechanism to collectively guide the party’s revival.

The letter talked of forming the CWC in accordance with the Congress’ constitution as well as reconstitution of the central parliamentary board and the central election committee. Under the party constitution, the CWC shall consist of the party president, its parliamentary leader and 23 and 23 other members, of whom 12 will be elected by the AICC and the rest shall be appointed by the party president. Elections to CWC have not been held since the 1990s and the Congress has taken the “consensus route” in choosing the CWC team. The details of the letter emerged just ahead of Monday’s CWC meeting.