Congress Working Committee to meet on Oct 16, much-awaited organisational polls on agenda

New Delhi: Congress’ supreme body Congress Working Committee (CWC) will hold a meeting on October 16 in New Delhi to discuss the current political situation, forthcoming Assembly polls, and organisational elections.

The meeting will be held in person at the party headquarters at 24, Akbar Road. It will be attended by CWC members, permanent invitees and special invitees of CWC. The meeting is crucial because organisational polls will be discussed in the meeting, which is a long pending demand of the Group of 23 (G-23) leaders of the party. The G-23 leaders have demanded elections for CWC members, Central Election Committee (CEC) members, and Parliamentary Board Elections.

Gulam Nabi Azad had recently written a letter to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi for holding an urgent meeting of the CWC.

Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting to be held on October 16 in New Delhi to discuss current political situation, forthcoming Assembly polls, and organisational elections pic.twitter.com/T5oLOh1k6B

— ANI (@ANI) October 9, 2021

Meanwhile, Congress MP Kapil Sibal in a press conference had said, “We don’t have a permanent president in the party. We don’t know who is taking decisions in the party.” His remarks sparked controversy and party workers protested outside his residence. It seemed it was G-23 leaders versus team Rahul Gandhi.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Ajay Maken told ANI that Sibal should not be degrading the organisation that gave him an identity.

“Sonia Gandhi had ensured that Kapil Sibal becomes a minister in Union Cabinet despite not having organisational background. Everyone in the party is being heard,” he said.

In the last CWC meet, it was decided that internal polls would be postponed in wake of the second wave of COVID-19 infections in the country but no timeline was given. So the question now is whether the ambiguity over the organisational polls ends after the meet?

A senior functionary of the party said that as the assembly polls in five important states are due in a few months, it is likely that internal polls will be postponed till then but the final decision will be taken with the consensus of all CWC members.

It remains an unanswered question whether prior to that Rahul Gandhi will take over the post of party president or will contest for party president post. But the Youth Congress, National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Mahila Congress and Social Media’s National Executives have passed a resolution to make him party president.

On the question of whether Rahul should be the president, the G-23 leaders just said that the party should have a full-time president.

Sonia Gandhi was made interim president by CWC after Rahul Gandhi stepped down as the president of AICC accepting the responsibility of poll debacle in the 2019 general elections.