G-23's face Ghulam Nabi Azad meets Congress chief Sonia Gandhi amid post-election strain

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad met party president Sonia Gandhi on Friday at her residence 10 Janpath. After the meeting, he interacted with the media and stated that few days ago, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting took place wherein it was discussed how to strengthen the party. In addition, he also revealed that the CWC was asked for suggestions on the reasons for the Congress' debacle in the recently held Assembly elections in five states. 

"The Working Committee was asked for suggestions on the reasons for defeat in five states. Even I gave my suggestions and discussion was held to fight unitedly in the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha elections to defeat the opposition parties. We decided how to strengthen the Congress party," said Ghulam Nabi Azad 

"When Mrs Gandhi had offered to resign, we all urged her to continue as the Congress President. The party's elections will take place in a few months and it will be decided later as to who will become the party president. But we gave more suggestions to strengthen the party," he added 

The G-23 Congress leaders have held a series of meetings in the recent days, following the Congress' debacle in the five Assembly elections that were held. The G-23 group includes senior Congress leaders like Kapil Sibal, Shashi Tharoor, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, Mani Shankar Aiyar, PJ Kurien, Parneet Kaur, Sandeep Dikshit, and Raj Babbar who were in attendance. The most recent meeting was scheduled to be held at Kapil Sibal's residence, but the venue was shifted to Azad's residence after Sibal attacked the Gandhis, ANI sources reported. In an interview to a newspaper, Sibal had asserted that it was time for a leadership change in the party and for someone else other than the Gandhis to head the Congress. The remark was not welcomed by the Congress leadership, ANI reported. 

Image: PTI