Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, August 24: A marathon seven-hour long meeting of the Congress Working Committee here on Monday ended inconclusively with Sonia Gandhi agreeing to continue as the interim president for a further period of six months during which the process was expected to be initiated to install an elected president of the party.
Mrs Gandhi in her opening remarks as the meeting began at 11 A.M. offered to quit from her post to make way for a new president. The party, however, persuaded her to continue till her replacement was found.
The CWC meeting was called in the wake of a letter by 23 top party leaders seeking sweeping reforms within the Congress following which Mrs Gandhi offered to quit forthwith. Gandhi had asked the CWC to begin the process of “transition” to relieve her from her duties, saying she had given a detailed reply on the issue to AICC general secretary K C Venugopal.
Sonia Gandhi was made the interim president last year after Rahul Gandhi resigned in the wake of the party’s defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.