" To think that the Congress party would do anything different was just naive" says BJP's Amit Malviya on Sonia Gandhi's appointment as Congress interim President

The Congress Working Committee appointed Sonia Gandhi as the interim president on August 10, Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad confirmed to the media after the meeting ended.

Following this declaration, Amit Malviya, head of  Information and technology and also a member of BJP said " It is hardly surprising that Sonia Gandhi is back as the Interim Chief of the Congress Party. And even if a non-Gandhi would have been elected, the reigns of the party would have still remained in the hands of the Gandhis,"

He further added "Sonia Gandhi was behind the party for 19 long years, the party diminished under her leaders, lets not forget that 2014 was lost majorly by the Congress when she was heading the party, thus the fact that she was chosen again to head the party only shows the lack of option within the Congress party and second that no leaders in the Congress think that they can lead the party after having served in the party for so many years,"

Wishing the party all the best for their future endeavours he said, "To think that the Congress party would do anything different was just naive, hence they could have just taken the decision earlier instead of stalling it for 38 days."

READ: Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi Leave CWC Meet Midway Despite Being Named In Party's 5 Region-wise Huddles

AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal during a media briefing said that the CWC unanimously wanted to Rahul Gandhi to work as the party's chief but since he declined they requested Sonia Gandhi to take over until the new president was elected. He added that Sonia Gandhi agreed to the proposal, thereby becoming the interim Congress president.

Sources to Republic had said that reports of all the five committees were supposed to be submitted and taken up for consideration by CWC. Sources had said committees proposed the name of Rahul Gandhi once again. Even the committee in which Priyanka was there has proposed Rahul Gandhi's name. The party's top decision-making body had reconvened at 8 pm to discuss reports of five groups, formed earlier in the day, to scrutinise names of potential successor to Rahul Gandhi, but failed to come to a final decision.

CWC divides into region-wise groups for consultation 

At 11 am, the Congress' top brass, including ex-prime minister Manmohan Singh, party general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi, Ahmed Patel, A K Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge and P Chidambaram, went into a huddle at the All India Congress Committee headquarters here. The CWC decided to have consultations with leaders from across the country and it was divided into five groups for different regions -- northeast, east, north, west and south.

The CWC group for the northeast region included top party leaders such as Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat. The group for eastern region included AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, ex-Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi and former Union minister Kumari Selja. The northern region group included Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jyotiraditya Scindia and P Chidambaram. The western region group was has leaders such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, A K Antony and Motilal Vora.  The group for the southern region included Manmohan Singh, Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his deputy Sachin Pilot, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy were also part of the consultation process.

READ: Sonia Gandhi Appointed Interim Congress President, CWC Meeting Inconclusive