A street stall selling Congress memorabilia outside the deserted National Congress Headquarters during the counting day of Assembly polls, in New Delhi, Thursday, March 10, 2022.
Highlights
- Adhir Ranjan said "we all rejected" Sonia Gandhi's proposal to 'sacrifice' the party post
- CWC unanimously reaffirmed faith in Sonia's leadership and requested her to lead from the front
- The results of assembly elections in five states came as a shock to the Congress
Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the party's interim chief Sonia Gandhi along with her family members Rahul Gandhi (son) and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (daughter) proposed to "sacrifice" their posts during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting Sunday. The participants, however, unanimously rejected the proposal. The CWC is the highest executive committee of Congress and has a final say in the decisions taken by the party.
Sources told ANI that Sonia Gandhi in her speech said that if the party feels "we all three (herself, Rahul and Priyanka) are ready to resign", but CWC unanimously rejected this.
"Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi said that she along with her family members Rahul Gandhi & Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are ready to scarify their posts for the party, but we all rejected this," Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, also the Congress' leader in the Lok Sabha, said.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, party general secretary KC Venugopal said that the CWC unanimously reaffirms its faith in the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and requests the Congress president to lead from the front, address the organisational weaknesses, effect necessary and comprehensive organizational changes in order to take on the political challenges.
Sonia Gandhi will immediately take up immediate corrective measures to revamp and re-strengthen organisation, Venugopal said, adding that the party will also hold a Chintan Shivir immediately after the Budget Session of Parliament and before that the Congress Working Committee will meet again.
"Every single member of CWC wants Sonia Gandhi to guide the party till organisational elections are held," party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.
The results of assembly elections in five states (Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Punjab) came as a shock to the Congress. Barring Punjab, the four states were ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party. While the BJP retained power in all the four states it ruled before the polls, the Congress lost Punjab to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The grand old party even failed to put up a strong fight in the four states.
More than 50 leaders participated at the CWC meeting on Sunday, a number surpassing the combined strength of Congress's MLAs and MPs from the five states.
READ MORE: After 4-hour-long meet on post-results damage control, here's where Congress stands
