Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday met with party interim president Sonia Gandhi. Azad informed the media that he has shared suggestions discussed in the dissident G-23 group meeting on strengthening the party. He further said that there was no duality in the party over Sonia Gandhi’s position as the party president. “The meeting with Sonia Gandhi was good. All members of the Congress party decided unanimously that she should continue as the president, nobody said that Sonia Gandhi should quit, we just had some suggestions that were shared,” said Azad while talking to media persons after the meeting at the residence of Sonia Gandhi. He stated, “The discussion was held to fight unitedly in the forthcoming Assembly elections to defeat the opposition parties.”
Azad said that in the Congress Working Committee meeting recently, suggestions were sought on how to strengthen the organization.
On Tuesday, after a meeting of G-23 at the residence of Azad, the dissenting leaders of Congress issued a statement after the meeting that said the Congress party needs to adopt “collective and inclusive leadership.” According to the leaders, the meeting was aimed at deliberating on the thrashing defeat faced by Congress in the recently concluded assembly elections in five states.
The G-23 group, consisting of various senior Congress leaders, has been a vocal critic of Congress leadership, demanding an organizational overhaul after its members wrote a joint letter to Gandhi in 2020. Earlier on Sunday, G-23 leaders ahead of the Congress CWC meeting suggested senior party leader Mukul Wasnik’s name for the post of party president. The suggestion was rejected by the party.
