In line of fire for the recent Assembly poll debacle, Congress president Sonia Gandhi continued to engage with the dissident leaders, particularly with the Group of 23 (G23) affiliations, and met Deputy Leader of Congress in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma and Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari on Tuesday.
This meeting has come within days of her meeting with Ghulam Nabi Azad and her son Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Azad, Hooda, Sharma, Tewari are members of group of 23 senior disgruntled and dissenting party leaders who have advocated an overhaul of the grand old party. Sources said Sonia is expected to meet other leaders of the G-23 as well in the coming days and before she conducts a second Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting shortly.
The first was chaired by her two days after the assembly poll results after which the leadership, particularly Sonia, Rahul and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, were blamed for the rout in five states including Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand where it had a formidable chance.
Sonia held discussions on resolving internal party issues and it is learnt that during the meeting, the leaders suggested ways to strengthen the party and revive it to help take on the BJP in the next round of elections in more States including Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat within a year. Anand Sharma is a big leader from Himachal Pradesh. Another Congress Rajya Sabha MP and a leader of the G-23, Vivek Tankha, was also present during the meeting on Tuesday at Sonia’s residence. Tuesday's interaction was part of the series of meetings that the Congress top leadership is having with some of the leaders who have raised critical organisational issues and have suggested measures to revamp the party.
These meetings are being held amidst indications that some of the G-23 leaders may be accommodated in the CWC or a new body like the Parliamentary Board, which will be responsible for all policy decisions including finalising chief ministerial candidates and tie-ups with like-minded parties in states.
The group is also reportedly seeking the ouster of some Rahul Gandhi loyalists from key AICC positions and top on their target are AICC general secretary Organisation KC Venugopal and general secretary Ajay Maken. Sources said one or more may be shifted to placate the dissident group. G-23 is a group of dissenting Congress leaders who have been demanding an organisational overhaul and have been critical of the party leadership. They have also questioned some of the decisions taken by the party leadership, including alliances with some regional outfits.
Azad, on the other hand, is learnt to have met some other leaders of the grouping. Sources said the leadership is open to suggestions from the G-23 and has reached out to them in a bid to resolve the differences within and work out a resolution to strengthen the party. Last week, Sonia Gandhi had personally called up Azad and held discussions with him, days after the informal meeting of the G-23 on March 16 said the "only way forward for the Congress was to adopt a model of inclusive and collective leadership and decision making at all levels."