At CWC meeting, Congress reaffirms its faith in Sonia Gandhi’s leadership

Post-poll debacle, the party says situation very serious, announces ‘chintan shivir’ next month

All the three members of the Gandhi family are ready to step aside from leadership roles if the party so desires, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said in her opening remarks at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting here on Sunday but the party’s highest decision making body unanimously rejected it and reaffirmed its faith in Ms. Gandhi’s leadership.

However, after a nearly five-hour marathon meeting on the party’s decimation in the recent Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur, the CWC adopted a resolution that described the situation as “serious” and decided to hold a chintan shivir (brainstorming session) soon after the second leg of the Budget session of Parliament ends in April second week.

“The recent Assembly election results of five States are a cause of serious concern for the Indian National Congress. The party accepts that due to shortcomings in our strategy, we could not effectively expose the misrule of BJP governments in four States and overcome the anti-incumbency in Punjab in the short time after effecting a change of leadership,” party general secretary K.C. Venugopal said, reading out a statement to the media.

“The CWC unanimously reaffirms its faith in the leadership of Ms. Gandhi and requests the Congress President to lead from the front, address the organisational weaknesses, effect necessary and comprehensive organisational changes to take on the political challenges,” the statement added.

Asked about the Gandhi family’s offer to step aside, party chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala did not deny but said internal deliberations of the party could not be discussed with the media.

Last Friday, the party’s decimation had prompted G-23 leaders — the group of 23 leaders that had written to Ms. Gandhi in August 2020 to press for collective leadership and sweeping internal reforms — to meet at the residence of former Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Mr. Azad, party’s Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma and senior leader Mukul Wasnik are also members of the CWC.