NEW DELHI: The Congress Working Committee (CWC) began its meeting on Saturday to discuss the political situation in the country, but United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was not present as she was unwell.
The meeting, chaired by Congress President Rahul Gandhi, was attended by senior party leaders including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sheila Dikshit.
They are likely to discuss, among other things, the political situation in the country and the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.
This meeting is the second under Rahul Gandhi's chairmanship.
The Congress has slammed the Narendra Modi government over the NRC, saying the highly sensitive exercise has been "tardy" and has led to massive insecurity in Assam. The NRC draft, published on July 30, has excluded 40 lakh people.
The meeting of the CWC, the Congress' highest decision-making body, is also expected to discuss the preparations for the Assembly polls in four states this year and the issue of alliances for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
In its first meeting last month, the party had decided not to lose any more time to firm up the grand alliance for the upcoming polls.
It also decided that the party president Rahul Gandhi would take a call on bringing together like-minded parties to take on the ruling BJP. He would also be the party’s candidate for the Prime Ministerial post.
“The Congress has a national presence and fights the largest number of Lok Sabha seats. When it emerges the single largest party, other parties will come to join us,” Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala said after the meeting.
(With Inputs from ENS)