The Congress Working Committee is set to hold a meeting on October 16 to discuss the current political situation, forthcoming Assembly polls and organisational elections. The development comes amid fresh demand from the Group of 23 (G-23) leaders for holding a CWC meeting.
According to an earlier ANI report anonymously quoting a senior party leader, the agenda was yet to be finalised. "But yes organisational polls and other political developments happening in the country can be discussed," the leader had said.
During the previous CWC meet, the party had decided to postpone internal polls in the wake of the second wave of COVID-19. No timeline had been given. But with five states headed to assembly polls early in 2022, the issue has gained additional significance. The G-23 leaders have demanded elections for CWC members, Central Election Committee (CEC) members, and Parliamentary Board Elections.
Gulam Nabi Azad has recently written a letter to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi for holding an urgent meeting of the CWC. "We don't have a permanent president in the party. We don't know who is taking decisions in the party," added MP Kapil Sibal in a recent press conference.
The supreme committee of the party is also likely to discuss the roadmap for the upcoming assembly polls in five states early next year.
Sonia Gandhi was made interim president by CWC after Rahul Gandhi stepped down as the president of AICC accepting the responsibility of poll debacle in the 2019 general elections. On the question of whether Rahul should be the president, the G-23 leaders just said that the party should have a full-time president.
A senior functionary of the party said as the assembly polls in five important states are due in a few months it is likely that internal polls will be postponed till then but the final decision will be taken with the consensus of all CWC members It remains an unanswered question whether prior to that Rahul Gandhi will take over the post of party president and will contest for party president post. But the Youth Congress, National Students' Union of India (NSUI), Mahila Congress and Social Media's National Executives have passed a resolution to make him party president.
(With inputs from agencies)
