Congress Forms 5 Region-Wise Groups To Elect New Party President

After this, CWC meeting will begin again and a decision on new President will be taken. As per the sources, if the talks don’t take final shape today, working committee meeting can again be called on Sunday.

New Delhi: The Congress working Committee meeting to elect new party president began at 11 am on Saturday, where senior party leaders including UPA Chief Sonia Gandhi and former party president Rahul Gandhi were also present. As per sources, the party has decided on forming 5 groups, where leaders from various regions will give their opinions. After this, CWC meeting will begin again and a decision on new President will be taken. As per the sources, if the talks don’t take final shape today, working committee meeting can again be called on Sunday. The groups which have been formed on the basis of regions include North-East region, East region, North region, West region and south region. The north-east region includes senior leaders like Ambika Soni, Oomen Chandy. The east region including Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar islands includes leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Tarun Gogoi etc. The North region includes leaders like Priyanka Gandhi, P Chidambaram, PC Chacko etc. The West comprises of senior leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, AK Antony etc; whereas, The South region comprises of leaders like Manmohan Singh, Anand Sharma, Adhir Ranjan etc.

Me and Rahul not in contest: Sonia Gandhi

Speaking on the mention of their names in the list of candidates, UPA Chief Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said that "Rahul and I are not in contest and our names have been mentioned mistakenly". The top Congress leadership held a meeting with its state unit chiefs and leaders of its state legislature parties, along with its general secretaries and in-charges, where they were told by Rahul Gandhi that there was nothing to worry as regards the selection of the new party chief, who would be appointed within the next few days after wider consultations, the sources said. Rahul Gandhi also told the leaders that he was happy to note that the party was under pressure to select its new chief and drew an analogy with a tiger, which maintained its ferocity under pressure.