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After witnessing defeat in all the five state assembly elections, Congress has decided to convene a meeting today, March 14 in a bid to chart out the future strategies of the party. Besides, the party's strategy group for Parliament will also meet on Sunday to plan for the second half of the Budget Session, starting tomorrow (March 14).
Congress president Sonia Gandhi will reportedly chair the meeting of the party's top decision-making body at its headquarters here at 4 PM on Sunday.
The Congress lost Punjab to the AAP and could not wrest any of the four other states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur - from the BJP.
While Sonia Gandhi has not been actively campaigning for some time, Rahul Gandhi has been the star campaigner for the Congress besides Priyanka Gandhi, with the brother-sister duo also playing a major role in key decisions of the party.
Despite a high-pitched campaign led by AICC general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress could manage to win only two of the 403 assembly seats.
Rahul Gandhi had resigned as Congress president after the party suffered its second consecutive defeat in general elections in 2019. Sonia Gandhi who took over the reins of the party again as interim president had also offered to quit in August 2020 after an open revolt by a section of leaders, referred to as G-23, but the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had urged her to continue.
In today's meeting, G-23 leaders, who have questioned the leadership and pressed for organisation overhaul, are likely to raise the issue again.
The G-23 leaders had suggested corrective measures after the previous round of assembly polls when the Congress lost Puducherry and failed to make a mark in Kerala, Assam, and West Bengal, but there had been little movement on that front.
These leaders had met on Friday evening at the residence of senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to evolve their strategy ahead of the crucial CWC meeting.
Meanwhile, party spokesman Randeep Surjewala has dismissed as "wrong and mischievous" reports claiming that the Gandhi family members will resign from all party positions, thus ruling out any major tectonic shift in the party.
The reports of alleged resignations are unfair, mischievous, and incorrect, he said on Twitter.
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