Sonia Gandhi chairs key Congress meet on 2022 assembly polls, Rahul & Priyanka attend

Congress leaders on Tuesday arrived at the Congress party headquarters for a meeting to discuss the upcoming elections. Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other leaders arrived at the meeting presided by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi. During the meeting which is underway, the leaders will be looking to strategise the membership drive for internal organisational elections at various levels next year, and discuss the 2022 assembly elections in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa, among other issues.  

The meeting was attended by all party general secretaries, in-charges and state unit chiefs at the Congress headquarters, as seen in a video shared by the INC on Twitter. “Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri @RahulGandhi preside over a meeting of General Secretaries, Incharges & PCC Presidents at AICC HQ,” INC tweeted. Punjab PCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu has also arrived at the meeting and is expected to discuss the turmoil situation in the state ahead of the elections. Meanwhile, in a letter to all state Congress chiefs, All India Congress Committee general secretary KC Venugopal asked them to turn the membership drive for organisational polls into a “mass campaign process”.
 

Earlier, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting was held on October 16. During this, the party leadership decided that organisation polls will be held next year and for that, a membership drive will be launched from November 1. The Congress party organisational election is likely to be held on September 6, 2022, and the party is expected to have its president by October. In a previous CWC meet, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel had requested Rahul Gandhi to take up the leadership position, which he had assured to consider in a later meeting.

Navjot Sidhu rebels again

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will hold meeting with Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu amid his continued attack on the party. Recently, Sidhu opined that Punjab must come back to its real issues that concern every Punjabi. Adding that Punjab is facing a financial emergency, resources need to be brought back from private sectors, Sidhu asked 'Who will lead the initiative?'. Sidhu, who eyes the CM post, has been rebelling against his own aide - Charanjit Singh Channi who was selected as CM.

Sidhu has already written to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi putting forth a list of 13 issues in the state. Listing Justice for sacrilege, drugs, agriculture, electricity, PPAs, Scheduled caste and Backward caste welfare, employment, Single window system and comparative advantage, Women and youth empowerment, liquor, sand mining, transport and cable mafia, he urged her to direct the state government to act in the interest of Punjab. Sidhu had previously rebelled against ex-CM Amarinder Singh, moving the High Command to assert his 'issues'.

Image: PTI