CWC meeting: Congress says it will be fully prepared to face forthcoming elections including 2024 Lok Sabha elections

During the Congress Working Committee meeting on Sunday, it was discussed and decided that the party will will be fully prepared to face the electoral challenges in the forthcoming elections including the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The CWC also unanimously reaffirmed its faith in the leadership of Congress' interim president Sonia Gandhi and requested her to lead from the front, the grand old party said in a statement.

Days after its election debacle in five states, the Congress' top decision-making body today brainstormed over the way forward.

Amid calls for large-scale reforms to revive the party's dwindling electoral fortunes, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal said after the over four-hour meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) that the party president will immediately take up corrective measures to revamp and re-strengthen organisation.

"Every single member of the CWC wants Sonia Gandhi to guide party till organisational elections are held," Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said.

The CWC has unanimously reaffirmed faith in the leadership of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Venugopal added.

Former party chief Rahul Gandhi, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Venugopal, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, party's leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and P Chidambaram were among those who attended the Congress Working Committee meeting.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik were the only three from the Group of 23 leaders who participated in the meeting of the CWC, which has a large number of Gandhi family loyalists.

While Sonia Gandhi has not been actively campaigning for some time, Rahul Gandhi, along with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, had been the star campaigner for the Congress in the polls, with the brother-sister duo also playing a major role in key decisions of the party.

Despite a high-pitched campaign led by Priyanka Gandhi, the Congress could manage to win only two of the 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh with the vote share plummeting to a meagre 2.33 percent and most of its candidates losing security deposits.

Meanwhile, the chorus for making Rahul Gandhi Congress president again grew louder as several leaders and workers voiced support for him to take on the mantle of party chief.