Congress Working Committee to meet via video-conference on August 24 amid leadership debate

Amid a debate over the leadership issue, top Congress leaders will meet through video-conferencing on August 24 and are likely to discuss the matter.

The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party, will meet at 11.00 am on August 24, All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary KC Venugopal said on August 22.

"A meeting of the Congress Working Committee will be held on Monday, the 24th August, 2020 at 11.00 AM via video conferencing," he said in a tweet.

All permanent and special invitees to the CWC have been invited to the meeting, where the leadership issue is also likely to be discussed, besides the current political situation in the country.

Party leaders write to Sonia Gandhi

There has been a clamour within a section of Congressmen for Rahul Gandhi to take over as the president of the grand old party again.

According to a report by The Indian Express, 23 senior leaders of the party, including five former chief ministers, many CWC members, sitting Members of Parliament and several former union ministers, have sent a letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi calling for sweeping changes in the organisation -- from top to bottom.

The report further suggests that the letter highlights the erosion of the party’s support base and says that losing confidence of the youth are matters of concern.

Signatories to the letter reportedly include Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad; former union ministers Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, Milind Deora; AICC office bearers and CWC members Mukul Wasnik and Jitin Prasada; former chief ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Prithviraj Chavan; and other prominent leaders such as Renuka Chaudhary, Raj Babbar, Arvinder Singh Lovely and Sandeep Dixit, among others.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report and the letter.

The CWC meet also comes close on the heels of Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi completing a year as the interim party chief -- a post she accepted last year after her son Rahul Gandhi stepped down.

A debate is again raging in the Congress over the uncertainty related to its leadership.

In an official media briefing two days ago, the Congress said its workers across the country want Rahul Gandhi to take charge of the party.

(With inputs from PTI)