CWC meet next week to end suspense over internal polls

With a fresh demand from the Group of 23 (G-23) leaders for holding a Congress Working Committee meeting, the suspense or the ambiguity over the party's organisational elections is likely to end soon.

A senior party leader on the condition of anonymity said the CWC meeting will be called next week although the agenda is to be worked out and finalised.

"But yes, organisational polls and other political developments happening in the country can be discussed," the leader said.

The supreme committee of the party can also discuss the roadmap for the upcoming assembly polls in five states early next year, but the most important point is the decision on organisational polls for the post of party president.

The G-23 leaders have demanded elections for CWC members, Central Election Committee (CEC) members, and Parliamentary Board Elections.

Gulam Nabi Azad has recently written a letter to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi for holding an urgent meeting of the CWC.

Congress MP Kapil Sibal in a press conference had said, "We don't have a permanent president in the party. We don't know who is taking decisions in the party."

His remarks sparked controversy and party workers protested outside his residence. It seemed it was G-23 leaders versus team Rahul Gandhi.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Ajay Maken told ANI that Sibal should not be degrading the organisation that gave him an identity.

"Sonia Gandhi had ensured that Kapil Sibal becomes a minister in Union cabinet despite not having organisational background. Everyone in the party is being heard."

In the last CWC meet, it was decided that internal polls would be postponed in wake of the second wave of COVID-19 infections in the country but no timeline was given. So the question now is whether the ambiguity over the organisational polls end after the meet?

A senior functionary of the party said as the assembly polls in five important states are due in a few months it is likely that internal polls will be postponed till then but the final decision will be taken with the consensus of all CWC members.

It remains an unanswered question whether prior to that Rahul Gandhi will take over the post of party president and will contest for party president post.

But the Youth Congress, National Students' Union of India (NSUI), Mahila Congress and Social Media's National Executives have passed a resolution to make him party president.

On the question of whether Rahul should be the president, the G-23 leaders just said that the party should have a full-time president.

Sonia Gandhi was made interim president by CWC after Rahul Gandhi stepped down as the president of AICC accepting the responsibility of poll debacle in the 2019 general elections.