Congress Working Committee to meet on Oct 16; troubles in party, Assembly polls on agenda

The meeting is expected to be stormy, as the party is saddled with crisis after crisis with leaders deserting Congress and rebellion in state units

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) will meet in the national capital next Saturday to discuss the turmoil in the party units, especially in Punjab and Chhattisgarh, upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and other states and the vexed issue of election of a full-time president to replace interim president Sonia Gandhi.

The meeting is expected to be stormy, as the party is saddled with crisis after crisis with leaders deserting Congress, rebellion in state units and inability to stage successful protests against the BJP-ruled Centre and states.

"A meeting of the @INCIndia Working Committee will be held on Saturday, the 16th October, 2021 at 10.00 a.m. at AICC Office, 24, Akbar Road, New Delhi to discuss current political situation, forthcoming assembly elections and organisational elections," Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal tweeted.

On the main agenda would be the organisational election as well as election of a full-time president, which has been deferred owing to the second wave of pandemic earlier this year.

Read | Congress in dilemma as regional parties train guns

Earlier this month, senior Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, who is among the change-seekers known as G-23, targeted the party leadership over the issue saying nobody knows who takes decisions in the party when it has no full-time president, a veiled attack on Rahul Gandhi.

The meeting also comes after senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, also a prominent G-23 member, wrote to Sonia seeking an immediate meeting of the CWC to discuss the crisis in the party after Navjot Singh Sidhu resigned as Punjab Congress chief. A number of G-23 leaders are unhappy with the leadership in the manner in which Amarinder Singh was ousted as Punjab Chief Minister following a campaign by Sidhu, which has the support of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi.

Developments in Punjab following the ouster of Singh and resignation of Sidhu in protest against certain decisions of Singh's successor Charanjit Singh Channi. Though a compromise has been reached between Sidhu and Channi but there is still no clarity on the resignation letter by Sidhu.

Another concern will be Chhattisgarh where a section led by T S Singh Deo has been raising the demand for removing Bhupesh Baghel as per a perceived formula of sharing Chief Ministership. Baghel has also been appointed as senior party observer for UP Assembly polls.

Sibal's press conference in which he attacked the central leadership saying that G-23 is not a group of "yes men" and subsequent protest at his residence by Congress workers may also come up.

The G-23 leaders had been raising the issue of leadership change since August 2020. Though June this year was set as a deadline for completing the process for electing a full-time process, the Covid-19 second wave led to postponement in plans.

Though the issue of organisational elections will come up, sources said, a section in the party feel that only one year is left for the new party president and the party could wait.

Rahul Gandhi was elected president in 2017 and had resigned after the Lok Sabha poll debacle following which Sonia was chosen as interim president. The tenure of Congress party president is five years and if a leader is chosen now, the argument is that he or she will have only a year and in such a scenario, one could wait till then.

However, the other side argues there should be clarity and direction in the party's action and a definite decision on leadership should be taken.

Sources said they argue that parties like Trinamool Congress are aggressively poaching from the Congress and even attacking the leadership. On Friday, Trinamool attacked Rahul for his defeat in Amethi and has been saying that Congress has not been active in Opposition space.

Trinamool's response came to a tweet by Baghel directed at election consultant Prashant Kishor. "People looking for a “national” alternative based on poaching INC functionaries who can’t win even their own seats are in for a big disappointment. Unfortunately, to become a national alternative, deep-rooted and concerted efforts are needed and there are no quick- fix solutions," Baghel said without naming Trinamool.

To this, Trinamool responded, "Rich words coming from a first-time CM. Punching above your weight doesn’t bring honour to you, Mr @bhupeshbaghel. What a shoddy attempt to please the high command! By the way, is @INCIndia going to try to erase the historical defeat at Amethi through yet another Twitter Trend?"

Watch latest videos by DH here: