Sonia Gandhi to chair CWC meeting at 10 AM; Lakhimpur, G-23 and state polls on agenda

Bracing for the upcoming polls, Congress President Sonia Gandhi will preside over the meeting of Congress' top decision-making body - Congress Working Committee (CWC) at 10:00 AM on Saturday. Organisational elections, forthcoming assembly polls, G-23 rebellion and the current political situation, including the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, will be on top of the agenda, stated PTI. Congress has convened the first physical meeting of the CWC since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CWC: Lakhimpur, polls, G-23 on agenda

The meeting also comes amid rumblings within the Congress' state units such as in Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan where the party is in power.  The G-23 leaders have been demanding the convening of the CWC with Kapil Sibal last month wondering who in the party was taking decisions in the absence of a full-time president and asserting that G23 leaders' grouping is "not a Jee Huzur 23". During the meeting, the party leadership is also likely to decide on the schedule for electing the new Congress chief.

The meeting is also likely to discuss key issues such as price rise, farmers' protests and the economic situation of the country. The CWC meeting will also discuss the spate of defections and the party's poor electoral fortunes. Congress chief ministers Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and Charanjit Channi (Punjab) are expected to be present at the meeting.

Congress promises CWC meeting

The call for a CWC meeting was raised by the G-23 leaders amid Capt Amarinder Singh's ouster at the behest of Navjot Singh Sidhu - who himself then quit his post as PPCC chief over differences with CM Charanjit Singh Channi.  G-23 leaders demanded that the interim president i.e. Sonia Gandhi not nominate leaders to the CWC, but hold fair and transparent elections in an open forum. Congress has been in leadership turmoil since Rahul Gandhi stepped down as party chief after the 2019 poll loss and his mother Sonia Gandhi took over as interim chief.

G-23's demands & quashing

23 senior Congress leaders sought 'structural changes', internal election to the CWC even at state levels, the formation of an Independent Election Authority, and institutional leadership mechanism, full-time leadership at the helm at the party.  The 23 signatories include Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Rajender Kaur Bhattal, M. Veerappa Moily, Prithviraj Chavan, P.J. Kurian, Ajay Singh, Renuka Chaudhary, and Milind Deora -  belonging from the Congress' 'old guard ' and the 'young guard' (i.e Rahul Gandhi supporters). The group held a set of rallies in Jammu, proclaiming that 'Congress had weakened'. In response, Congress quashed all dissent retaining Sonia Gandhi as chief and moved a resolution to not undermine the party or the Gandhis (Rahul and Sonia).

(with PTI inputs)