Sonia Meets Dissenting Leaders At Cong Parliamentary Strategy Meet

This is the first time Sonia Gandhi will be facing some of the dissenting leaders on a video call.

On Tuesday, 3 September, Congress loyalists and dissidents held a virtual meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Strategy Group, chaired by the party's interim president Sonia Gandhi.

This was the first high-level meeting of the party since the Working Committee meeting on 24 August, in which as many as 23 senior leaders of the party had written an explosive letter to Gandhi, that plunged the party into turmoil.

The meeting was attended by the Congress dissidents who call themselves reformists, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, and Manish Tewari, reported IANS.

Sources told IANS that Rahul Gandhi had said that "the government is hiding its failure, and diverting issues when the country is facing Chinese incursion, economic mess, pandemic, and unemployment."

The party has decided to raise issues related to the country’s economy, pandemic situation, unemployment, Chinese incursion, and also the suspension of Question Hour, reported IANS.

Congress is also thinking whether to contest the post of deputy chairman in consultation with like-minded parties. Its leaders were of the view that a joint opposition candidate should be fielded in the election which is scheduled for 14 September.

This was the first time Sonia faced some of the dissenting leaders on a video call since the letter fiasco.

Congress Letter Row

The leaders had asked for changes in the party leadership, organisational structure and internal elections. Senior leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, who were signatories to the letter, are present at the Parliamentary Strategy Group meeting.

"We have witnessed a steady decline of the Congress Party reflected in successive electoral verdicts in States and General Elections in 2014 and 2019. Reasons are manifold and need to be immediately identified. Otherwise, the Congress Party will find itself marginalised, both in the states, which is already apparent, as well as at the national level,” the leaders had written in the letter.

The dissenters were promised a session of the All India Congress Committee, however, Sonia Gandhi is yet to institute any changes in the party organisation or set the stage for the previously mentioned session.