Sonia Gandhi to remain Congress president

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi will continue to lead the party until the election for the post of Congress president is held, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) decided on Sunday, reports the India Today.

The five-hour long Congress Working Committee meeting saw around 52 senior Congress leaders holding a detailed discussion on the election results of the recently concluded assembly elections in five states.

Addressing the media after the meeting, Congress spokesperson KC Venugopal said the CWC has expressed faith in the leadership of Sonia Gandhi.

Venugopal said the Congress's loss in the five state elections was "serious" and the party has decided on several corrective measures which would be swiftly implemented.

Venugopal said the party will organise a "chintan shivir" after the Parliament session and the CWC will meet again before it to take up some "organisational changes".

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the party will fully prepare to face electoral challenges in the upcoming state assembly polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Surjewala also acknowledged that "every party worker wants Rahul Gandhi to lead the party". However, the new party president will be chosen at the next Congress election, he stated.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that Sonia Gandhi will lead them and will take future steps. "We all have faith in her leadership," ANI quoted him as saying.

RAHUL GANDHI TO RETURN AS PARTY CHIEF

Ahead of the CWC meeting, Congress workers were seen raising slogans in support of Rahul Gandhi outside 10 Janpath.

Besides party workers, senior Congress leaders also pitched for Rahul Gandhi's return as Congress chief. Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar said in a tweet, "As I have said it earlier as well, Rahul Gandhi should take up the Congress presidency in a full time role immediately. This is the wish of millions of Congress workers like me."

Youth Congress chief Srinivas BV said the Gandhi family is the thread that binds together not only the Congress but all sections of the country and it is not dependent on any electoral victory or defeat.

After Congress's defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi had resigned as Congress president. Sonia Gandhi then took over the reins of the party again as the interim president and continues to hold the position as the Congress president's election keep getting delayed.

Meanwhile, according to sources, Rahul Gandhi said in the CWC meeting, "We cannot contest elections in the 90s style to counter the front parties' way of fighting polls."

According to sources, Sonia Gandhi said in the CWC meeting that some people feel that the party is weakening because of the Gandhi family. "If you guys think so, then we are ready to make any kind of sacrifice," Sonia Gandhi reportedly said.