Party’s revival depends on unity, self-control: Sonia Gandhi at CWC meeting

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, during her opening address at the Congress Working Committee’s meeting on Saturday, said the revival of the party depends upon “unity, self-control and discipline”.

“The entire organisation wants a revival of the Congress. But this requires unity and keeping the party’s interests paramount. Above all, it requires self-control and discipline,” ANI reported Sonia Gandhi as saying.

On Saturday, the meeting kicked off at the party’s headquarters in New Delhi at around 10 am.

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The party is seeking to finalise dates for the election of a full-term president. However, on the eve of the meeting, several Congress leaders, including members of the Group of 23 who have been seeking sweeping changes in the party structure, argued that the party should not go in for polls now and should focus on the forthcoming Assembly elections in five states.

The meeting also comes amid rumblings within the Congress’ state units such as in Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan where the party is in power.

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The G-23 leaders had been demanding to convene the CWC with Kapil Sibal last month and wondered who in the party was taking decisions in the absence of a full-time president. He has asserted that the G23 leaders’ grouping is “not a Jee Huzur 23”.

Some of the leaders of the G-23, however, added that the CWC can decide the timeline for holding the membership drive, which was last held in 2016-17, in the run up to the organisational elections.