G-23 leaders, who had written to Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi seeking reforms in the party) on Saturday met with the former Congress leader at his Delhi home. It was reported that the reform seeking letter had been authored by Azad himself.
According to a PTI report, besides giving approval to the election schedule, members of the CWC, the party's highest decision-making body, may also express their confidence in the leadership provided by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
The meeting is going to take place virtually at 3.30pm, according to reports in Hindustan Times. The report has further stated that Sonia Gandhi will preside the meeting. The Congress interim president is abroad currently for medical check-up. She is accompanied by her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The Gandhis will join the meeting virtually.
The Congress had announced in October last year that the election of the new party president will be held between August 21 and September 20 this year.
In his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi, Azad lashed out at Rahul Gandhi for "demolishing its entire consultative mechanism" through a coterie and group of sycophants.
The grand old party has seen a number of high profile exits over the past few months, including that of Kapil Sibal, Sunil Jakhar, Amarinder Singh, RPN Singh and Ashwani Kumar. However, Azad's resignation coupled with the no-holds-barred letter is likely to have hurt the party leadership the most in recent times. In a damage control mode, the party said Azad's DNA had been "Modi-fied" in an apparent reference to his cordial ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to a PTI report, the election of the Congress president is likely to be delayed by a few weeks with the party focused on the Kanyakumari to Kashmir 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' starting September 7 and some state units not completing formalities.
Names of several party veterans, including Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, have come up for the next president's post, reports Hindustan Times. This comes amid reports that Rahul Gandhi has refused to return as the party chief.
On Wednesday, Gehlot said efforts will be made till the last minute to persuade Rahul Gandhi to take over the reins of the party again.
Gehlot's remarks came a day after he met Sonia Gandhi, triggering the buzz that the two may have discussed the possibility of him being the next party president.
Congress leader and MP from Kerala's Wayanad Rahul Gandhi had resigned as the Congress president after the party's second consecutive defeat in the Lok Sabha election in 2019.
Sonia Gandhi then took over as the interim president. She had offered to quit in August 2020 after an open revolt by the G-23 members, but the CWC had urged her to continue.
