CWC to be divided into 5 groups for discussions on new Cong chief

Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, which will be held soon, will be divided into five groups, and discussions regarding choosing Rahul Gandhi's successor will be held with state unit leaders according to regions, sources said on Saturday.

It is expected that an interim party president may be appointed in the meeting after consultation if the members fail to come to a consensus on one name. It is also being said that a group of leaders may be authorised by the CWC to decide the new party president after consulting workers, after which a second CWC meeting will be called to approve the name.

Prominent leaders of the party, who are also the members of the CWC, including Sonia Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be present in the meeting.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at 11 am at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in New Delhi. The main agenda is to decide Gandhi's successor.

Many names are doing rounds for the post of Congress president, but no consensus has been achieved.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has batted for a young leader to head the party, while Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora suggested the names of party leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot.

A few leaders like Shashi Tharoor have suggested that an interim president be appointed at the earliest.

A lawmaker from Wayanad constituency, Gandhi had offered to step down from the post of Congress president at the CWC meeting on May 25, taking moral responsibility for the party's drubbing in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

However, his offer to resign was unanimously rejected by the CWC with several top leaders rallying behind him to continue to lead the party.

Almost two months after that, not only did the 49-year-old leader make his resignation public, but also removed the tag of "Congress President" from the bio of his Twitter handle.

Many protests and scores of resignations have come to the fore to stop Rahul Gandhi from resigning. Chief Ministers of all Congress-ruled states had met with Gandhi in Delhi to advice him to reconsider his decision to resign but of no avail.

The Congress won 52 seats in the recent general elections, which is just eight more than its 2014 Lok Sabha results.