New Delhi: In September next year, a full-time Congress President and a team of new office-bearers will be elected. The CWC – the party’s top decision-making body – has yet to approve the schedule (which includes a new membership drive ahead of state elections next year). Sonia Gandhi is expected to stay in her position until the membership drive and internal elections are completed.
According to sources, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) of the party will hold a membership drive and internal ‘grassroots-to-top’ elections to pick a full-term President, rather than one who will serve until December 2022. Many believe that the party’s focus should be on the upcoming elections in Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, and other states and that the ongoing issue of an “interim” leader will only stymie preparations for those elections.
Mrs Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, as well as former Union Minister P Chidambaram and Chief Ministers of Chhattisgarh (Bhupesh Baghel) and Punjab (Charanjit Channi), met today to discuss internal concerns. Mrs Gandhi retaliated (without mentioning the G-23), defending her role as a “full-time and hands-on Congress President.”