As Sonia Gandhi says no ill will, dissenters meet at Ghulam Nabi Azad’s residence

Congress letter signatories wanting change in the party leadership met at Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad’s residence.

After crucial CWC meeting that ended with interim party chief Sonia Gandhi being asked to continue for the time being and an “all is well” vibe given by Congress, the signatories to the letter calling for a change in the party leadership met at Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad’s residence.

Former Union Ministers Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, Mukul Wasnik, Anand Sharma and Kapil Sibal reached Azad’s residence and met for more than an hour, but it is not clear what transpired there.

In the Congress Working Committee meeting, Sharma, Azad and Wasnik were cornered by Gandhi loyalists, with even former Union Minister Ambika Soni targeting Azad, saying that he has not been without power for decades, so what problem does he have now, sources said.

Sources say that Azad, who is Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Sharma, his deputy, may find it tough to continue in their posts now. However, Sonia Gandhi said that “she does not hold any ill will against any colleague or any other thought of any other nature, for she treats them as part of the family”, according to party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.

“Irrespective of however hurtful the remarks in the past many years of any colleague may have been, she maintained that she has always risen above them to keep the Congress family together and to fight for the cause of the people. That is the message she gave to the Congress workers and the leaders,” he said.

The Monday meeting of CWC came in wake of the letter written by 23 leaders who questioned the party leadership and was promptly responded by Sonia Gandhi.

“She wrote me a letter on August 20, which contained an indication to ‘Begin Deliberation’ in order to put in place a process… today itself we decided to have an AICC session at the earliest,” said party General Secretary, Organisation, KC Venugopal.