Sonia Gandhi held a five-hour meeting with dissidents yesterday.
New Delhi:
Congress is pushing for changes in its organizational leadership following yesterday’s meeting with dissidents with a leadership review in four states: Telangana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Until now, Telangana Congress President Uttam Kumar Reddy has resigned to take responsibility for the poor performance in Hyderabad’s local polls. The President of the Gujarat Congress, Amit Chavda, also resigned after the poor performance of the party in Gujarat according to polls.
The former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath, who is the chairman of the state party, also holds the position of leader of the CLP. Nath was said to have played a key role in conducting the top leaders’ meeting with the G-23, as the rebels who gave the first note of dissent have been dubbed.
On Saturday, Congress had made changes to the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee. Balasaheb Thorat, who is the Chairman of the Maharashtra Congress, is also the leader of the Maharashtra Congress Legislative Party.
Acting Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has appointed three secretaries to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) for Assam and Kerala, where Assembly elections are due to take place early next year.
The newly appointed secretaries will assist the general secretaries in charge of the two states: Jitendra Singh for Assam and Tariq Anwar for Kerala.
Yesterday, Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi, and her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met with dissidents from Congress in the first of a series of meetings to be held over the next 10 days. The meeting was the first step towards reconciliation after months of internal disputes over the leadership issue.
While top leaders have agreed to organizational elections, Rahul Gandhi’s declaration at the meeting that he is “ready to work for the party as he wishes” is seen as an indication of his return as party chief.
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