Sonia Gandhi remains Chief: Here's a timeline of how Congress' crisis on Monday unfolded

Almost 6 hours after triggering a dramatic turn of events, the Congress party returned to square one as it announced that Sonia Gandhi would continue as the party's interim President. With the wounds of the Rajasthan crisis yet to heal, the grand old party was jolted by another blow as it feared cracks within the party leadership with seemingly two factions uprising. However, the Sonia Gandhi-led cadre somehow maintained to grasp onto both sides and the sparkling blaze is dozed off by promising elections for the President.

Here's how Congress' Monday Mess unfolded in 6 hours: 

11:44 AM: Interim party chief Sonia Gandhi urges Congress Working Committee (CWC) to 'relive' her of duties. Sonia Gandhi had taken over the reins of INC as her son Rahul Gandhi faced a humiliating defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, following which he stepped down. Gandhi completed a year as the interim chief earlier this month. 

12:01 PM: As Sonia Gandhi expressed her desire to step down, former PM Manmohan Singh urges the interim chief to continue. 

12:08 PM: At the CWC meeting on Monday, interim chief Sonia Gandhi's response to the dissenters' 'letter' is read out. Reportedly, several Congress leaders wrote to the Congress president on August 12 calling for sweeping changes in the party's functioning. As per suspended Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha, more than 300 leaders representing all regions and states are signatories to the letter. Some of the senior leaders who have reportedly signed the letter include Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, Milind Deora, Mukul Wasnik, Jitin Prasada, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and Prithviraj Chavan. 

12:10 PM: In the same meeting, former Defence Minister AK Anthony urges Sonia Gandhi's son Rahul Gandhi to take over as the party chief if the former was unwilling to continue. Anthony also hit out at the dissenters for their 'hurtful' remarks. 

12:17 PM: Following Anthony, Rahul Gandhi steps up and lambasts the dissenting letter. Gandhi questions the timing of the letter and claims that it was sent when Sonia Gandhi was hospitalized. 

1:00 PM: Former Union Minister Kapil Sibal hits out at Rahul Gandhi for remarking that the Congress was 'colluding with BJP'. 

"Rahul Gandhi says “we are colluding with BJP". Succeeded in Rajasthan High Court defending the Congress Party. Defending party in Manipur to bring down BJP Govt. Last 30 years have never made a statement in favour of BJP on any issue. Yet “we are colluding with the BJP"!" Sibal tweets.

1:09 PM: Following Rahul Gandhi's alleged statement, senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad, one of the signatories of the dissent letter, offers to resign if the former Congress chief's statement turns out to be true. 

1:30 PM: As Rahul Gandhi faces heat, National Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala jumps to attempt damage control. Taking to Twitter, Surjwala asserted that Rahul Gandhi did not make any such statement. "Sh. Rahul Gandhi hasn’t said a word of this nature nor alluded to it. Pl don’t be mislead by false media discourse or misinformation being spread," the Congress spokesperson tweets while mentioning Kapil Sibal's previous tweet. 

1:35 PM: In a big development, four senior Congress leaders are logged-off from the CWC meeting underway, leaving in protest against Rahul Gandhi's comments blaming loyalists over "colluding with the BJP."

1:45 PM: Priyanka Gandhi hits out at senior leaders and signatories of the dissenting letter calling them 'double-faced' as the fight between camps escalates. As per sources, Vadra slammed Ghulam Nabi Azad, claiming that the latter had polar apart views as compared to the letter. 

1:46 PM: Kapil Sibal withdraws his tweet claiming that former party chief Rahul Gandhi told him personally that he never made the statement attributed to the latter. Sibal deletes the tweet. 

2:16 PM: Congress treasurer Ahmed Patel, known to be the closest aide of Sonia Gandhi, proposes the name of Rahul Gandhi as the next president of the party

2:40 PM: Former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah writes to Sonia Gandhi. Siddaramaiah urges interim-Chief Sonia Gandhi to continue as the President or ask Rahul Gandhi to take charge of the affairs. In the letter, Siddaramaiah stated that he was convinced that the Gandhi family could lead the Congress party to success.

2:49 PM: Ex-Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath reportedly refuses to back Rahul Gandhi as next Congress chief, insisting Sonia Gandhi to hold on to it. Nath joins Manmohan Singh, AK Antony, KC Venugopal who have insisted the same. 

4:06 PM: Ghulam Nabi Azad offers to resign if the allegations of 'colluding with BJP' were proven to be true. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Azad also affirms that former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has never commented that the letter written to party chief Sonia Gandhi urging for changes in the party's functioning was written at the 'behest of BJP'.

 

4:48 PM: Ambika Soni issues a statement asking the party to take 'a strict action' against the 23 signatories to the dissenting letter which includes senior leaders like Kapil Sabil, Ghulam Nabi Azad and others. Soni demands action be taken against the leaders 'irrespective' of their seniority. 

5:37: Dissenters take a U-Turn. Sonia Gandhi set to remain Congress interim chief until fresh elections are held by AICC

7:00 PM: CWC address media. Spokespersons KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala share 5 resolutions adopted by the committee unanimously. Surjewala says that Congress will strengthen the Gandhis' leadership and not allow anything to undermine the party. When asked if action will be taken on the 23 dissenters, he says that Sonia Gandhi was hurt, but did not hold any grudges against them. Here is the full resolution adopted