Manmohan Singh was the third to speak at the virtual Congress Working Committee meet. (File)
New Delhi:
Shortly after Sonia Gandhi declared her decision at a key Congress meet to quit as chief and asked the party to start looking for her replacement, the first person to urge her to continue was former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Another senior leader, AK Antony, asked Rahul Gandhi to take over as party president.
Sonia Gandhi’s decision comes after a massive controversy over the leak of a letter written by 26 top Congress leaders demanding a “full-time, visible leadership”.
Manmohan Singh, the third to speak at the virtual Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting after KC Venugopal and Sonia Gandhi, asked Sonia Gandhi to remain party president and hit out at the signatories of the letter.
“The letter is unfortunate,” the former PM reportedly said. He remarked that “weakening the high command is weakening the Congress”.
The CWC meeting was called “to discuss an urgent matter,” KC Venugopal said, opening the meeting in which Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are also present.
Speaking after Manmohan Singh, senior leader AK Anthony said: “More than letter, contents of the letter were cruel.” He also spoke about “the sacrifices of Sonia Gandhi,” according to sources, and urged Rahul Gandhi to take over as Congress president.
The explosive letter spoke about “uncertainty” over the leadership and the “drift” in the party, which, it said has demoralised workers and weakened the party.
Signatories include Kapil Sibal, Shashi Tharoor, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Prithviraj Chavan, Vivek Tankha and Anand Sharma. The letter stressed that the Gandhis will always be an integral part of a “collective leadership”.
