Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Saturday chaired an important meeting attended by dissenters and came to the conclusion that a 'Chintan Shivir'(brainstorming session) should be organised to discuss party's future plans and strategies.
The four-hour-long meeting, which focused on discussing the ways to strengthen the party, was held at Gandhi's residence. Besides former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh party in-charge Priyanka Gandhi, Ashok Gehlot, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, B S Hooda, Ambika Soni and P Chidambaram were also present at the meeting.
“We discussed the future of the party. It was a constructive meeting in which senior leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi discussed the current situation of the party and ways to strengthen it,” news agency ANI quoted Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan as saying.
The meeting was held months after unprecedented dissent by 23 senior Congress leaders against party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Pawan Kumar Bansal, who was also one of the dissenters, was also present at the meeting. Addressing the media after the marathon meeting, he said, “There is already an election process in motion. There is an agenda before the party. The CEA is working on it."
Meanwhile, on the eve of the crucial meeting Friday, the Congress had said that most of the leaders and party workers feel that Rahul Gandhi is the right person to lead the party.
“Yes the election of the Congress president will be held as per the electoral college…but we certainly feel and many people like me feel that Rahul Gandhi should lead the Congress party from the front. The final call will be his,” Congress communication department head Randeep Surjewala said at an AICC press meet.
“This is not a meet of any specific group of leaders. This is not a meet of any dissenters or rebels because we consider each leader, each worker of the Congress party as part of the family. And addressing the issues raised by some of the senior leaders, friends and colleagues, the Congress party had already decided to hold the election for the post of president of the Congress. That process is currently underway," he had added.