Congress Working Committee meeting begins in Delhi, may decide on holding organization elections

Two-four Congress Working Committee meetings have started with the toughest political challenges in its history. In this, a decision can be taken to start the process of conducting organizational elections including the party president. Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram are also present in this meeting. The upcoming assembly elections and the Lakhimpur Kheri incident will be on top of the agenda in the meeting. Along with this, three resolutions including political and agricultural will also be passed.

This is the first meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) since the Corona pandemic. The meeting is taking place at a time when there is a rift within the party in state units of the Congress such as Punjab, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan. Congress Chief Ministers Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh), and Charanjit Channi (Punjab) are expected to be present in the meeting. Sonia Gandhi took over as interim Congress president in August 2019 after Rahul Gandhi resigned in the wake of the party's Lok Sabha defeat in May 2019.

This meeting has been called on the demand of the leaders of the disgruntled G-23 group of the party, but instead of only the main members of the G-23 camp working committee, the invited members and in-charges of the states are also being told that they are unhappy with the invitation. The G23 group demanded a full-time and active party president as well as an organizational change. A group of G23 leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, and Mukul Wasnik created a storm at the party in August last year by writing a letter to Sonia Gandhi.

Former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad also wrote a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi asking her to convene a CWC meeting soon. The party had decided in the CWC meeting held on January 22 to elect a regular president of the Congress by June 2021, but the CWC meeting to be held on May 10 was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is believed that key issues like price hikes, farmers' protests, and the country's economic condition are likely to be discussed in the meeting.