For the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Congress president Sonial Gandhi met a group of party leaders who questioned the leadership of the party and wrote a letter to Gandhi. The four-hour long meeting was held at 10 Janpath. Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi were also present at the meeting.
In August, 23 Congress leaders wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi calling for “full time and effective leadership”. The signatories included Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, Vivek Tankha, Mukul Wasnik, Jiitin Prasada, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Rajender Kaur Bhattal, M Veerappa Moily, Prithviraj Chavan, PJ Kutian, Ajay Singh, Renuka Chaudhary, Milind Deora, Raj Babbar, Arvinder Singh Lovely, Kaul Singh Thakur, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Kuldeep Sharma, Yoganand Shastri, Sandeep Dixit.
The letter pointed out at the uncertainty of leadership in the party which has demoralised workers.
The in-person meeting came in a series of attempts to streamline the party, which will soon see election for the post of the president.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala on Friday said majority of the Congress wants Rahul Gandhi as the president. “It is my belief and the belief of the overwhelming majority, 99.99 per cent of the Congress leaders and workers that Rahul Gandhi is the right person to lead the Congress party and to take on the Modi government,” he said.
Many such meetings like the Saturday’s one will now be held in the coming days.
After Saturday’s meeting, Pawan Bansal said Sonia Gandhi said Congress is one big family. “There is no dissidence in the party. All are committed to work unitedly to energise the party,” he said.
Prithviraj Chavan said there will be a brainstorming session to plan the way ahead while the preparation for election goes on.
