New Delhi: Suspense remains on what senior Congress leaders discussed on Monday in an informal meeting convened by former defence minister AK Antony.
The meeting was obviously to discuss to find an alternative to Rahul Gandhi, who is adamant on his resignation he offered as the party president at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on May 25. The leaders were worried over the paralysis in the party because of the development.
The party’s chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala, who was present in the meeting, however, played down any such discussion on new Congress president, asserting that "Rahul Gandhi was, is and will remain the Congress President and we have no doubt about it". He said the CWC had unanimously rejected his offer to quit the very same day.
Surjewala said Antony had convened the meeting of the seniors to discuss the party’s strategy for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir. He denied that it was a core group meeting as all committees formed for the Lok Sabha elections already stood dissolved after the elections.
Insiders said some names were discussed but all agreed not to reveal anything until getting Rahul’s approval. Rahul, who has said he wants to give up the presidency after the Congress defeat, did not attend the meeting.
His mother and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi too did not attend the meeting as she was in her constituency Rae Bareli, along with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Nor did former PM Manmohan Singh and Priyanka, who were engaged in the informal discussions to resolve the leadership crisis, attended the meeting.
Those present in the meeting were treasurer Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjuna Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram, organising General Secretary K C Venugopal and former union ministers Anand Sharma and Jairam Ramesh.
Though it was not a core group meeting, those present were all members of the core group that Rahul had formed to oversee day-to-day matters during the elections.