Sonia Gandhi to continue as Congress president for now

The meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) ended on Monday, after deliberating on the turmoil within the party for seven years, with a resolution that Sonia Gandhi will continue to lead the party.

The members of the CWC, the party's highest decision-making body, also decided to form a committee to help Gandhi in day-to-day functioning of the organisation.

A session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) will be called within six months where future course of action will be decided.

Sonia Gandhi, who was adamant on quitting the post of party president, agreed to continue. She said after the marathon meeting, "Congress is one big family and I don't hold anything against anyone. But all, especially senior leaders should raise concerns at the party forum only."

The crisis was triggered by a letter written earlier this month by a group of Congress leaders - 23 of them - who suggested complete overhaul of the party, including full-time president, a parliamentary board if a non-Gandhi become the party chief and collective leadership.

In her response, Gandhi asked the CWC members to begin the process of electing the next party president. She also presented a statement which was read out by KC Venugopal. Many leaders, including former prime ministr Manmohan Singh, urged Gandhi to continue.

Three of the 23 dissenters - Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik - also lauded her contribution to the party and insisted that their letter was not intended to question the leadership of the Gandhi family.

Explaining the reasons for writing the letter to the Congress president, Azad made it amply that it was not directed against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as "misconstrued" and alleged by some people.

Party general secretary Ambika Soni, meanwhile, demanded action against the dissenters, saying rules are equal for both seniors and juniors in the party.

Former union minister RPN Singh praised Sonia Gandhi for being available 24x7 to guide the party during Jharkhand elections.

"We won the elections. Secondly, I want to tell all CWC members that we should all learn from Sonia Gandhi," he told the CWC. Singh also wanted Sonia Gandhi to continue on the post till a new president is elected.

Sonia Gandhi completed one year as the party's interim chief on August 10. She was a full-fledged party president for over 19 years from May 1998 to December 2017 when Rahul Gandhi took over the reins from her and resigned in May 2019 owning moral responsibility for the party's rout in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.