Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi have left the Congress Working Committee meeting on Saturday that was being held to select a new party chief.
The post of Congress president has been vacant since late May after Rahul announced his decision to resign in the wake of the Lok Sabha poll debacle.
Sonia had informed the delegates she and Rahul “did not want to be part of the process to decide the name of a new president”. Sonia was quoted by ANI as saying “Now consultation (to decide next party chief) is going on and naturally me and Rahul cannot be a part of it.”
Interestingly, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Sonia's daughter, is continuing to attend the deliberations at the CWC.
On Friday, Rahul had insisted that the CWC meeting be extended to including state Congress chiefs, chief ministers of states ruled by the party and other major office-bearers of the Congress. The move heightened speculation that Rahul remained in favour of a person outside the 'Nehru-Gandhi' family being appointed Congress chief.
Despite Sonia and Rahul leaving the CWC meeting, a decision on appointment of a new Congress is expected.
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The CWC meeting adopted a 'group discussion' format following initial deliberations, with leaders divided into five regions: North, North East, South, East and West. Rahul was listed in the group for 'West Region', while Sonia was listed for 'East Region'. Priyanka is in the 'North Region' group. The group discussion phase began by noon on Saturday. The CWC is expected to meet again after the group discussions.
(With inputs from Soni Mishra)
