Sonia Gandhi was made the interim president of Congress in August 2019 after Rahul Gandhi had stepped down from the post.
Sonia Gandhi will be meeting leaders of 'G-23' at her house on December 19 at 10 AM. As per sources, senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Bhupender Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan and Shashi Tharoor will be attending the meeting. Apart from them, senior leaders like P Chidambaram, AK Antony, Ashok Gehlot, Kamalnath, K C Venugopal, Pavan Kumar Bansal and Ajay Maken have also been called for the meeting.
This is being seen as an attempt by the interim Congress president to reach out and placate the 'dissenters' before the internal organisational election takes place.
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"The party will soon start the procedure to elect a new president. Electoral college of Congress, AICC members, Congress workers and members will choose who's best suited. 99.9% of people, including me want Rahul Gandhi to be elected as party president," Congress leader Randeep Surjewala during a press conference.
The group of 23 senior leader had earlier this year raised questions over party affairs through a letter which was leaked in the media. The leaders had earlier sought an appointment with Sonia Gandhi earlier also, however, due to Covid restrictions the meeting could not take place. This will be the first non-virtual meeting that will be taking place at 10 Janpath after the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic.
The major demand of the 'G-23' was to hold internal organisation election alongwith the elections for the CWC, and to have a visible leadership for the party.
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Sonia Gandhi became the interim president of Congress in August 2019 after Rahul Gandhi stepped down owing responsbility for party's poor performance in Lok Sabha elections. The leaders have been raising the issue of having a full-fledged party president sooner than later.
Tomorrow's meeting will certainly be a decisive one in terms of party's future course of action. However, there is still ambiguity about whether Rahul Gandhi is ready to take the charge again.
