Ghulam Nabi Azad had read out the letter of the dissidents at the CWC meeting today.
New Delhi:
A group of senior Congress leaders who signed the explosive letter that triggered huge controversy, met at the house of Ghulam Nabi Azad today after the seven-hour internal meeting where they were shredded by Gandhi family loyalists. The participants included Kapil Sibal, Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tiwari, Mukul Wasnik and Anand Sharma. Mr Sibal, Mr Tharoor and Mr Tiwari did not participate in the online meeting, which was attended only by the members of the Congress Working Committee, the highest decision-making body of the party.
After the informal meeting, the dissenters said they were happy with the deliberations of the Congress Working Committee and the outcome of the seven-hour meet.
“We are satisfied and happy with the decision and we will not be speaking to the media but we are confident that the issues will be addressed,” said one of the signatories of the letter after the meeting at Mr Azad’s house.
Two important issues were addressed at the meeting, they said. One — a committee will be formed to look into the intra-party issues and the other the call for a session of the All-India Congress Committee.
“We ultimately want elections to the Working Committee, for the constitution of a parliamentary board and for having a grassroot leadership,” the leader said.
Over the next few days, the signatories will carefully watch what decisions are taken. They are confident that Sonia Gandhi, who would stay on as the interim chief for the next six months, will address the issues of the party — especially the points raised by them, the leaders said.
In their explosive letter that was leaked over the weekend, the dissenters had asked for sweeping changes that included a “full-time, visible leadership”.
Upset, Sonia Gandhi had told the party that she wished to step down and they could look for a new chief. But she was persuaded to stay on for another six months after the leaders, in a familiar script, praised her leadership and stressed that the party must be led by her or her son Rahul Gandhi.
It was however decided that the party would look for a new leader over the next six months — a decision Mr Azad said he was satisfied about. “The Congress would have a permanent president and ad-hocism would end, he told NDTV.
In her closing remarks, Mrs Gandhi said she had “no ill-will” towards the leaders who wrote the letter. “I am hurt but they are my colleagues, bygones are bygones, let us work together,” she reportedly said.
