Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and outgoing party president Rahul Gandhi were part of an orientation programme for newly elected Lok Sabha members on Monday where they were told how to be more effective as lawmakers.
Senior Congress leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, P. Chidambaram, Ahmed Patel and Anand Sharma are believed to have met separately to discuss the political situation in Karnataka and choosing a replacement for Mr. Gandhi.
None of the leaders present at the meeting, however, spoke to the media on the party’s Karnataka strategy or the the exact nature of the discussions revolving Mr. Gandhi’s successor.
Better questions
At the orientation meeting, newly elected Lok Sabha members were told how they can be more effective by posing better questions and taking part in the debates.
The meetings — held at 15 Gurudwara Rakabganj Road or better known as Congress War Room — happened soon after Congress veteran Karan Singh released a statement, stating that he was “aghast” at the disorientation of the party after Mr. Gandhi’s formal resignation on May 25.
“I am aghast to see the confusion and disorientation into which the party has fallen since Rahul Gandhi resigned on May 25. Instead of honouring his bold decision, a month was wasted pleading him to take back his resignation,” Mr. Singh said in a statement and urged that the Congress Working Committee (CWC) be convened under the chairmanship of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Though a CWC meet was tentatively scheduled for July 10, the Karnataka crisis for the Congress-JD(S) government is likely to push it back. Also, Mr. Gandhi will be travelling to Amethi, his former Lok Sabha seat that he lost to BJP’s Smriti Irani.
New formula
The party is also said to be working on an acceptable formula where a senior leader like Mallikarjun Kharge would be made the party chief and younger leaders like Milind Deora, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot could be made vice-presidents or working presidents, a model followed in States like Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.
