Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 23
The Congress Working Committee tomorrow is set to be a stormy one with party chief Sonia Gandhi likely to offer her resignation amid calls for a full-time president and collective decision-making.
It could well be a replay of the 1999 events when Sonia, questioned by a Sharad Pawar-led camp on her foreign origins, quit but the resignation was rejected by the CWC, leading to Pawar's exit from the party.
What dissidents say
- CWC not guiding the party effectively, hold elections
- Need full-time leadership
- Overcentralisation,micro-management won't do
- Institutional leadership mechanism to revive party
"Sonia Gandhi may well offer to resign tomorrow and ask the CWC to find a full-term president. Even last year, she had accepted the Congress leadership after the CWC urged her to do so," sources said though officially AICC media chief Randeep Surjewala denied reports she was mulling to quit.
Surjewala also denied knowledge of the letter to Sonia by some leaders seeking collective leadership, effectively calling for a non-Gandhi chief. Among the signatories to the letter are Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Mukul Wasnik, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former Punjab CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and former Himachal Congress chief Kaul Singh Thakur.
Parallel to the calls for an organisational overhaul, the challenge to the Gandhis was firmly rebutted by CMs Amarinder Singh (Punjab), Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and V Narayanasamy (Puducherry) with Amarinder and Gehlot slamming attempts to "divide the party".
WILL IT BE 1999 REPEAT?
- Questioned on her foreign origins, Sonia had tendered her resignation to Congress Working Committee on May 17, 1999
- She withdrew the same a few days later ; dissenters Pawar, Sangma and Tariq Anwar had to quit party
- The trio formed the NCP; it is to be seen whether the current lot of dissenters will go the Pawar way
Baghel wrote directly to Rahul, seeking his return. Narayanasamy said leaders seeking changes was a "BJP ploy to divert attention from the Facebook controversy." All Congress Chief Ministers will attend the Congress Working Committee meeting tomorrow and vociferously back the Gandhis for the top post.
Former ministers Ashwani Kumar and Salman Khurshid, former Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddharamaiah, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja and MP Manicka Tagore today openly favoured the Gandhis with Kumar and Khurshid rubbishing calls for organisational elections, calling these "divisive." This public support for the Gandhis is seen as CWC's preparation to ensure they stayed at the helm, unless Sonia wills it otherwise.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2Yv0OC5
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