The Congress Working Committee (CWC) today unanimously decided that its incumbent President Sonia Gandhi will lead the party as its president “until such time as circumstances will permit”.
“The CWC, after a long seven-hour discussion, unanimously requests Sonia Gandhi to continue to lead the Indian National Congress until such time as circumstances will permit an AICC session to be convened,” according to a resolution adopted this evening after a meeting of the CWC, the highest policy-making body of the party.
The issue came into threadbare discussion as Congress’ interim President Sonia Gandhi today announced to quit from the post and asked for looking for her replacement following a letter written by 23 top leaders of Indian National Congress calling for “a full-time, visible leadership”.
The leaders — Ghulam Nabi Azad, Shashi Tharoor, Anand Sharma and Kapil Sibal — in the letter suggested complete overhaul of the party, including the full-time president, a parliamentary board if a non-Gandhi become the party chief and collective leadership.
According to the resolution, the CWC also decided to form a committee to help Gandhi in the day-to-day functioning of the organization.
A session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) will be called within six months where the future course of action will be decided.
However, sources said that Mrs. Gandhi, who was adamant about quitting the post of party president, agreed to continue.
It is for the second time Sonia Gandhi’s leadership was challenged after 1999 when Sarad Power raised the question from being named the party’s prime ministerial face in the general elections.
Sonia Gandhi completed one year as the party’s interim chief on August 10. She was the full-fledged party president for over 19 years from May 1998 to December 2017.Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com/
