Anand Sharma meets Azad; CWC to decide on Congress Presidential polls on August 28

The meeting will be online with President Sonia Gandhi joining from London where she has gone for medical check-up

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) will meet on Sunday afternoon to decide on the schedule for the election of party president, amid rumblings over the resignation of veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and speculation about the next course of action by another G-23 leader Anand Sharma who upped the suspense by driving to the renegade leader’s residence.

The meeting of the Congress leaders will be online with president Sonia Gandhi joining from London where she has gone for a medical check-up along with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Also Read | Ghulam Nabi Azad to launch own party, set up J&K unit within fortnight

The CWC had last year set a September 20 deadline for the election of party chief but the schedule is likely to be overshot by 1-3 weeks, as the leadership is tightening loose ends to elect a consensus candidate, most probably Ashok Gehlot, if their last-minute attempt to persuade Rahul fails.

The meeting comes two days after Azad resigned from the Congress with a stinging letter mainly targeting Rahul and not even sparing Sonia by putting the blame for the party’s problems at their doorsteps. Besides dubbing the organisational election as a “farce and sham”, Azad alleged that “proxies are now being propped up to take over”, amid Sonia reportedly urging Gehlot to take over as President.

All eyes will be on Sharma, who along with Azad and 21 others wrote to Sonia in August 2020 seeking clarity on leadership, as to whether he would echo the sentiments of Azad, who continued to meet local leaders from Jammu and Kashmir who quit Congress, in the CWC meeting or stay away.

On Saturday evening, Sharma drove to Azad’s residence on South Avenue in New Delhi where both the leaders were closeted in a meeting for around one hour. Sharma did not speak to the media after the meeting.

Sharma, who had recently resigned as Himachal Pradesh Steering Committee chairperson in protest, cut short his Himachal tour and returned to Delhi on Friday night.

Also Read | Crack between India and Congress, both have started thinking differently: Tewari after Azad's exit

Congress is downplaying Azad’s rebellion as party managers believe that it would not have resonance with party workers.

With Azad all set to hold consultations in Jammu on September 4 before forming his own party and a number of his supporters resigning from Congress, CWC member and Jammu and Kashmir in-charge Rajni Patil is flying to Srinagar on Monday to take stock of the situation and douse any fire in the party.

In an aggressive campaign against Azad, the party had on Friday fielded senior leaders to counter Azad. Gehlot, Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh, Digvijaya Singh, Tariq Anwar, Sachin Pilot and Shaktisinh Gohil came out against Azad, who however did not get unqualified support from his erstwhile colleagues like Bhupinder Hooda. At the same time, certain leaders not commenting on the issue was also noticed by the party leadership.

The party is also ignoring Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari’s remarks about some leaders who attacked Azad as “chaprasis”, with a senior leader suggesting that it does not matter. If he is so concerned, let him fight the Congress president’s polls, he said, adding Tewari badly wants to get expelled from the party and they were not going to oblige.

Congress highlighted that Azad’s episode has not impacted the normal functioning of the party. Party’s Media Department head Pawan Khera on Thursday night tweeted a list of state media coordinators for Bharat Jodo Yatra saying, “Azad or no Azad the Congress organisational machine moves ahead with determination.”