Ahead of CWC meet, senior leaders meet Sonia Gandhi, discussion on new Cong chief tomorrow

In an important development ahead of Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting scheduled for tomorrow, senior party leaders including Ahmed Patel and KC Venugopal met Sonia Gandhi here at her residence.

According to sources, Saturday's CWC meeting is planned to discuss the leadership issue after Rahul Gandhi resigned from the party's president post in the wake of abysmal performance in the Lok Sabha polls in May this year.

Party leaders have yet not been able to reach any consensus on the successor of Rahul Gandhi, said a senior Congress leader.

CWC member Jitin Prasad, however, told ANI that the aspirations of the party workers will be taken into consideration before coming to any conclusion.

Prasad's statement hints towards Congress being in a decisive mode to deliberate on the names for party president post in tomorrow's meeting.

However, sources say the CWC will be having a tough task of replacing Rahul.

Earlier, senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi had said that even the "slightest delay" in choosing the party chief is not an option.

Senior Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul will be present in the meeting, which is going to be called just after the conclusion of the parliament session.

Congress general secretary for UP East Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has already clarified time and again that she will not hold the post of Congress president. Rahul has also said that no one from Gandhi family would hold the top post.

It is expected that a temporary party president can be appointed in the meeting if the members fail to come to a consensus on a name. It is also being said that a group of leaders may be authorized by the CWC to take decide the new party president after consulting workers and the second CWC will be called to approve the name.