Congress top brass meets to decide on new party chief
New Delhi, Aug 9: Senior Congress leaders on Friday met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at her residence here ahead of the crucial Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting to decide on the new party chief.
Sources said senior leaders Ahmed Patel, A K Antony and K C Venugopal are learnt to have discussed with Sonia Gandhi some names of probables who could be made provisional president of the party, after Rahul Gandhi resigned and decided to not take back his decision despite pleas by many partymen.
Some of the names that are doing the rounds for the top post include senior party leaders Mukul Wasnik and Mallikarjun Kharge and some younger leaders.
The CWC may also form a panel of senior members to look for the new chief, the sources said.
Meanwhile, ahead of meeting, party leader Abhishek Singhvi said on Friday that any further delay in the selection of the new chief is not an option.
"On Saturday, a consensus builder party President of Congress must be selected. Slightest delay is not an option," Singhvi said on Twitter.
"In lighter vein, I gave analogy of wise men of Vatican locked in a room indefinitely until they got a nomination! Subsequently, it has to be followed by full intra party elections," he added.
A number of partymen have expressed their opinion in public, saying the delay in selecting the new Congress chief is harming the party.
Some Congressmen also made a call for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to take over from her brother Rahul Gandhi, who quit as party chief on May 25 post the Congress's poor show in this Lok Sabha poll.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
