As the Congress leaders log on for the party’s crucial working committee meeting at 11 am today, the developments of the past few months will weigh heavy on their minds. The months that saw the party emerge as a deeply divided house complete with letter wars, junior versus senior showdown, blame game  between different camps and offer of a resignation.

The meeting, that promises to be action-filled, was called soon after a group of 23 senior leaders comprising sitting lawmakers and former union ministers wrote to Sonia Gandhi — who took over as the interim chief after then president Rahul Gandhi quit after 2019 Lok sabha poll drubbing — seeking a ‘full time and effective’ leadership as the ‘party’s future is at stake’

This was seen as the first direct attack on Gandhis and the first explicit sign of patience running thin among senior leaders such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, Shashi Tharoor, Anand Sharma, Manish Tiwari, Kapil Sibal, Jitin Prasada, Mukul Wasnik, Renuka Choudhury, Milind Deora among others, who signed the letter.

The letter said that the party’s decline comes at the time when the country is faced with the ‘gravest  political challenges’. The letter added that even after 14 months of the 2019 verdict, the Congress has not undertaken “honest introspection” to analyse the reasons for its continued decline.

In her response, Sonia Gandhi reportedly said that all of them should get together and find a new chief as she does not want to carry out the responsibilities any further.

The letter by ‘dissidents’ was soon countered with a slew of letters by many leaders expressing confidence in the Gandhis, prominent among them being former law minister Ashwini Kumar, Punjab Cm Amarinder Singh and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Bhagel.

The meeting of the CWC is likely to see vocal calls for either Sonia to stay on or Rahul Gandhi to take full charge, in show of support. Analysts believe that an interim arrangement may be worked out till a full-time president is elected.

All this posturing notwithstanding, the party will have to take some tough decisions. The leadership impasse has to be addressed at the earliest and cannot be left hanging as the ‘party’s credibility is taking a hit everyday,’  say analysts.

Rahul Gandhi, who has lately been seen as trying to stage a comeback, has, according to reports, met with some resistance. At a recent meeting of the Rajya Sabha MPs, his aide Rajeev Satav tried to put the blame for the slump in party fortunes at the doorstep of UPA II, which was run by many of the 23 leaders who have signed the letter.

The ‘seniors’ pushed back and Satav was forced to step back. At another meeting of the Lok Sabha MPs only seven of the 40 MPs present demanded that Rahul Gandhi should be back as the party president. Digvijaya Singh, Shaktisinh Gohil, Rajiv Satav, Ripun Bora, Abhishek Singhvi, PL Puniya and GC Chandrashekhar appealed for Rahul Gandhi’s return as party chief, reports suggest. Earlier, a similar demand at the Lok Sabha MPs’ meeting was also met with a tepid response.