Sonia Gandhi set to hold discussions with Congress top brass, including 'letter writers', this weekend
NEW DELHI: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Saturday is scheduled to meet a group of 23 senior leaders who wrote to her in August urging for organizational elections and addressing leadership issues.
Sonia will meet a small group led by party veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad around 10 am on Saturday, said party sources, adding that Rahul Gandhi is also expected to be part of the meeting.
Coming ahead of an AICC session to elect a new party president, the meeting was arranged by senior leader Kamal Nath after he met the rebels and Sonia.
“Kamal Nath will also be part of the meeting and other key Congress functionaries have not been invited as she (Sonia) wanted to meet them (letter writers) separately,” the source said.
The meeting holds importance in backdrop of the party facing setback in recently Assembly election in Bihar, and bypolls and local elections in Goa, Assam, Telangana and Kerala. Senior leaders Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik, Kapil Sibal, M Veerappa Moily, Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor among others had sought to meet with Sonia before they shot off a letter to her.
The Congress chief could not meet them due to ill health. But the situation flared up after the contents of the letter were leaked with many of their colleagues seeking strict action against the group. Sonia had called for election of a new president within six months. While several party leaders feel Rahul should take charge, a party insider said he is “not willing”.
The group in their letter had also called for the Congress Working Committee (CWC) elections. In September, Sonia reconstituted the CWC, the party’s highest decision making body, and also carried out a major organisational reshuffle.