The Congress has called a meeting of its working committee on Monday following calls within the party to conduct internal elections and convince Rahul Gandhi to return as the party president, Congress functionaries familiar with the matter said.
The lease of 24, Akbar Road where the party headquarters is situation is also likely to be on the agenda. The lease is set to expire on November 30.
“There have been repeated attempts by leaders, young and old, to convince Rahul Gandhi to return at the helm,” said a Congress functionary.
The meeting comes in the backdrop of various leaders seeking ‘transparent elections’ for the top post and the party’s top decision-making body.
Rahul Gandhi had resigned from the post of the party chief following the party’s loss in the Lok Sabha elections last year – the party won only 52 seats. Sonia Gandhi was then appointed the interim chief.
The secretary (organisation) has asked that all members, permanent invitees and special invitees to be present for the meeting, Congress functionaries said.
The party is facing an imminent leadership crisis with many Congress leaders such as Sanjay Jha, who was expelled from the party, questioning the functioning of the top leadership. Jha, on August 17 tweeted, that a “100 Congress leaders (including MP’s), distressed at the state of affairs within the party, have written a letter to Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Congress President, asking for change in political leadership and transparent elections in CWC”. The party had dismissed the statement saying that Jha was spreading canards at the behest of the BJP
{{/usCountry}}The party is facing an imminent leadership crisis with many Congress leaders such as Sanjay Jha, who was expelled from the party, questioning the functioning of the top leadership. Jha, on August 17 tweeted, that a “100 Congress leaders (including MP’s), distressed at the state of affairs within the party, have written a letter to Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Congress President, asking for change in political leadership and transparent elections in CWC”. The party had dismissed the statement saying that Jha was spreading canards at the behest of the BJP
{{/usCountry}}Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor has also repeatedly said that the party should hold elections to the CWC and the post of president. “We also need to arrest the growing public perception, fuelled by a dismissive media, that the Congress is adrift and rudderless, incapable of taking up the challenge of a credible national Opposition,” the former Union minister had told PTI on August 9.
Tharoor added that the Congress needs to ‘urgently address’ the issue by ‘expediting the process of finding a full-term president, through a participatory and democratic process that will offer the winning candidate a legitimate mandate and the credibility that will be indispensable in ushering in much needed organisational and structural revival of the party’.
Most Congress leaders, however, were unaware of the points for discussion for the meeting till late Saturday evening.
“We found out from KC Venugopal’s tweet that the meeting is happening on Monday,” said a Congress functionary who did not wish to be named.
Venugopal, general secretary (organisation), tweeted “A meeting of the Congress Working Committee will be held on Monday, the 24th August, 2020 at 11.00 AM via video conferencing.”
A second Congress leader said that he had not received a call for the meeting until late Saturday evening as well.
A test run, however, was conducted for the meeting on Saturday to ensure that the leaders who are not familiar with the video conferencing application WebX can familiarise themselves. Congress had until now conducted their virtual meetings over Zoom. Nearly 35 leaders attended the test run.