The G-23 group leaders of the Congress party is holding another meeting on Thursday evening at senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's residence in Delhi to discuss their future strategy in the wake of the party's humiliating defeat in the recently concluded Assembly elections in five states. The group leaders, who have been demanding organisational overhaul in the party, had met on Wednesday at Azad's residence.
On Thursday morning, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda met party leader Rahul Gandhi and the two leaders are understood to have discussed ways to revamp the party. Hooda later met Azad at his residence in the presence of Deputy Leader of the Congress in Rajya Sabha and another G-23 leader Anand Sharma.
The grouping had yesterday said the "only way forward for the Congress was to adopt a model of inclusive and collective leadership and decision making at all levels." As many as 18 members including Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Sandeep Dikshit had attended the meeting.
Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, former Gujarat chief minister Shankar Singh Vaghela, former union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and former Haryana speaker Kuldeep Sharma had also joined them.
Rahul Gandhi's meeting with Hooda is significant in the context of the G-23 statement and the telephonic conversation Azad had with Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday to convey the intentions of the meeting at his residence.
There were reports that Azad was likely to meet party president Sonia Gandhi with proposals soon and discussions were underway on course correction within the party.
The G-23 leaders' back-to-back meeting came two days after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) reposed full faith in Sonia Gandhi and asked her to initiate changes to strengthen the party.
The grouping has been critical of the Gandhi family and demanding a complete revamp in the leadership. Sibal, in his latest salvo targeting the leadership had said the Gandhis should step aside and give some other leader a chance to helm the party, provoking a backlash from Gandhi family loyalists who accused him of speaking the language of the BJP and the RSS.
Shankar Singh Vaghela, one of the attendees of the G-23 meeting on Wednesday, said that they “don’t have faith in Rahul Gandhi".
“We don’t have faith in Rahul Gandhi. Today, Azad will meet Sonia Gandhi to convey her our demands. New leadership should come in. We want betterment of Congress. Other leaders will join us soon," he told News18.
