Sonia Gandhi Hits out at Party Reformists, Asks them to Maintain Unity and Discipline

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Oct 16: The Congress is all set to continue with the present makeshift arrangement for nearly one more year with scheduling the organizational elections calendar in 2022 culminating in the elections to the post of the party’s national president in September.

The schedule suggested by the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi was approved at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held in Delhi on Saturday. Following the meet, Congress announced that the process to elect the new party president would be completed by September 2022.

Earlier, in her opening remarks, Sonia Gandhi hit out at the reformists in the party known as the “Group of 23” (G-23) telling them that every member in the party wanted its revival wants the party’s revival, it can happen only with unity, self-control, discipline and by keeping the party’s interests paramount.

She maintained that she was a “full-time, hands-on president” and told the dissidents that there was no need for them to speak to her through the media. Her remarks came following recent criticism by some senior party leaders that there was “no president” in the Congress and that they had no idea who on behalf of the party were taking crucial decisions.

Her comments is a direct rebuttal of senior leader Kapil Sibal’s remarks before the media during the recent crisis in the Punjab Congress that “in our party, at the moment, there is no president. We know and we also don’t know who are taking all the crucial decisions in the party,” he had said. Senior G-23 members such as Shashi Tharoor had talked about need for a permanent president to revive the party.

“I am, if you will allow me to say so, a full-time and hands on Congress president,” Ms. Gandhi observed. In the past two years, a large number of young colleagues have taken leadership roles in taking party policies and programmes to the people, she asserted. “I have always appreciated frankness. There is no need to speak to me through the media. So let us all have a free and honest discussion. But what should get communicated outside the four walls of this room is the collective decision of the CWC,” she noted.

Talking about the party’s revival, a key theme raised by the G-23, she said, “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.”

She said right from the beginning of taking over the reins of the party after her son quit the post in the aftermath of the disastrous 2019 Parliamentary elections, she was conscious that she was only interim president pending full-fledged orgaisational elections in the party. “I am acutely conscious of the fact that I have been interim Congress President ever since the CWC, asked me to return in this capacity in 2019. We had thereafter, you may recall, finalized a roadmap for electing a regular President by June 30th 2021.  But the second wave of Covid-19 overtook the country and this deadline was extended indefinitely by the CWC in its meeting held on May 10, 2021.  Today is the occasion for bringing clarity once and for all. A Schedule for full-fledged organizational elections is before you.”

Be it the farmers’ agitation, relief provision during the pandemic, issues concerning youth and women, atrocities on Dalits, Adivasis and minorities, price rise, and the destruction of the public sector, the Congress chief pointed out the party had never shied away from raising issues of public importance.

“Never have we let issues of public importance and concern go unaddressed. You are aware that I have been taking them up with the Prime Minister as have Dr. Manmohan Singh and Rahul ji. I have been interacting with like-minded political parties regularly. We have issued joint statements on national issues and coordinated our strategy in Parliament as well,” she remarked.

Ms. Gandhi also spoke about the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, the farmers’ agitation, inflation, foreign policy and the continuing border stand-off with China, targeted killing in Jammu and Kashmir and the disinvestment process.

According to the party sources, at the meeting the Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot proposed the name of Rahul Gandhi as party president. He was supported by the Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and the Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and all other members agreed to the proposal, but Rahul Gandhi said he would consider taking up the post again.

Briefing media persons after the meeting, the Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said Congress would launch a massive membership drive from November 1 of this year. Senior party leader and general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal announced that the election of the AICC (All India Congress Committee) president will be held between August 21 and September 20, 2022. A plenary session of CWC members is likely to be held between September and October next year.

Elections for functionaries of booths and block committees will be held between April 16 and May 31 next year, he added. The same for PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) president and other officeholders will be held between June and August 2022.

The CWC also passed three resolutions during the meet on Saturday. One of the resolutions concerned the political situation in the country, the other highlighted rising inflation and the third referred to the “acute agrarian crisis.”