NEW DELHI: The 23 ‘dissidents’ in Congress, whose letter urging a full-time party chief has caused a stir, are likely to meet with Acting President Sonia Gandhi later this week. Rahul Gandhi is also likely to attend the meeting, the sources said.
The meeting could be aimed at a rapprochement between the “dissident” members and the party’s high command.
Sources said Gandhi has scheduled a series of meetings on December 19 and 20 with the leaders of Congress to decide on key issues that concern the party. These include the party’s strategy for the government not to convene the winter session of Parliament, finalize alliances and its strategy in the states of Assam, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, subject to elections, farmer agitation and holding of organizational elections.
There are talks that Congress is likely to hold the AICC session in January to elect a new president, for which the party leadership will discuss and define plans.
The group of 23 in the letter written last August had emphasized “having a full-time leadership that is active in the field.” They also fought for the devolution of powers to state units and the renewal of the CAQ in accordance with the party constitution.
Soon after, in an internal reform, several of these leaders were marginalized, and some of them were stripped of important positions.
Signatories to the letter included Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal, Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Anand Sharma, PJ Kurian, Renuka Chaudhary, Milind Deora, and Ajay Singh.
(With contributions from the agency)
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