A group of senior Congress leaders met here on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir. Briefing the media after the meeting, chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asserted that party president Rahul Gandhi would continue to lead the party.
“An informal meeting of Congress leaders was held today under the guidance of A.K. Antony,” Mr. Surjewala said. “The preparations for the four election-going States — Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir — were discussed. We did not discuss anything else,” he added.
Chaired by Mr. Antony, the meeting was attended by party treasurer Ahmed Patel, P. Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Deputy Opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal and Mr. Surjewala.
Mr. Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi did not attend the meeting. Asked if Mr. Gandhi was out of town, Mr. Surjewala declined comment.
He rejected speculation about an interim arrangement to appoint working presidents, clarifying that such an option was not being considered. “There is no question in light of my answer,” he added.
Observing that the ‘core group’ had been constituted during the Lok Sabha polls and that all groups had been disbanded since the elections had concluded, a party official said a “strategic committee” had been put in place. Members of the committee would be meeting at regular intervals to deliberate on key decisions, the official, who did not wish to be identified, added.
Separately, Mr. Venugopal would soon be convening a meeting of the general secretaries in-charge of all States to take stock of the situation post the Lok Sabha polls.
According to party officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Mr. Antony had asked Mr. Surjewala to find out who had leaked information about a proposal to form a 10-15 member decision-making panel, which would work alongside the party president’s office. Senior party leaders are said to be anxious about the ongoing speculation about interim arrangements till there is clarity about Mr. Gandhi’s continuance as party President.
“The only finality in this issue will come when a Congress Working Committee is convened to either accept or reject Mr. Gandhi’s resignation,” said a senior Congress leader, who declined to be identified. “But we hope that he is persuaded to stay on.”
( With inputs from Sandeep Phukan )
