CWC meet: Sonia Gandhi to stay at the helm of affairs; Congress to focus on revamping party

Following its terrible defeat in the recent Assembly elections, it was status quo once again in the Congress as the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s top decision-making body, has decided to take up the immediate correction measures to revamp and strengthen the organisation.

Sonia Gandhi will remain Congress president, the party said Sunday after a four-and-half-hour election defeat post-mortem. The three Gandhis reportedly offered to “sacrifice” their posts but the party rejected it.

Party president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday told the Congress Working Committee “we three” (she, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra) are ready to “step back” if it is felt the leadership lacks steadiness, shocking the gathering of elite party members and eliciting a unanimous chorus rejecting the offer.

According to sources, the entire gathering, including Ghulam Nabi Azad — a leading light of the ‘rebel G-23’ — said “no” and urged Sonia to continue.

A statement released by AICC general secretary in-charge KC Venugopal read: “Congress will be fully prepared to face the electoral challenges that will come up in the states going to the polls in 2022 and 2023 as well as in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Congress Working Committee [CWC] unanimously requests Congress president Sonia Gandhi to address the organisational weaknesses and effect necessary and comprehensive organisational changes in order to take on political challenges.”

It was also decided that a ‘Chintan Shivir’ or brainstorming session will be held after the Parliament session ends on April 8.

The five-hour meeting was attended by 52 senior Congress leaders. The discussion was focused on the recent election results. Sources said that the General Secretary and in-charges of the states where the elections were held were provided the post-result analysis conducted by the state units.

This time, the Congress not only lost power in Punjab, one of the three states it rules on its own, but also the dominance it enjoyed in Goa and Manipur. In Uttar Pradesh, it won only two seats and its vote share dwindled to just 2.4 per cent.