Congress to elect party president by June 2021: CWC
New Delhi: The Congress party will have an elected president by June 2021, with the party's working committee on Friday approving holding the internal election after the assembly polls.
The committee after a three and a half hour meeting authorised incumbent party chief Sonia Gandhi to schedule the internal election after the conclusion of assembly polls in five states.
Addressing a joint press conference, Congress leaders K C Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala said elections to the CWC will also be held but it remains to be seen whether they can be scheduled before or after the election to the Congress chief's post.
Sources said the Central Election Authority has proposed the holding of polls for electing the party president and AICC session on May 29 and the working committee discussed the dates, but authorised Sonia Gandhi to schedule them after the assembly polls.
The CWC passed three resolutions demanding a repeal of the three agriculture laws, a time-bound JPC probe into the alleged violations of national security and Official Secrets Act and another to ensure that the government ensures free time-bound COVID-19 vaccination for the poor and oppressed sections.
"The CWC decided that there will be an elected Congress President by June 2021 at any cost," AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said.
He said the little change of schedule depending on the state elections will be decided soon.
"The CWC discussed the schedule of Congress president's elections in May-end, proposed by its election authority. All CWC members unanimously requested Congress president that the internal elections should not interfere with the assembly elections."
He said the Congress president was requested unanimously to reschedule AICC Plenary Session to the end of June 2021 and the Congress chief's election would be concluded by June 2021.
"We will conduct elections as per the Constitution of the party. We need a change of schedule due to assembly polls as counting would be underway in May," he said.
Asked about any dissenting notes on the holding of elections, Surjewala said, "There was no dissent at the meeting."
He added that leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma or P Chidambaram were not dissenters but senior members of the Congress party and were all unanimous in deciding to extend the election schedule a little.
"There was no argument in the election schedule issue. The meeting was very fruitful. There is no dispute over conducting organizational election," Venugopal said.
He said a little clarity was needed on whether the CWC election can be held before or after the Congress president's election.
"We have to go to the constitution to look at that. The practice is to hold Congress president's election first and then the CWC election," he said.
There were reports about Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot hitting out at those demanding internal elections, saying the leaders should leave this to the party chief and focus on how to fight the Narendra Modi-led BJP. Anand Sharma objected to the tone of his remarks, dubbing it "disrespectful", the sources said.
The virtual meeting chaired by party chief Sonia Gandhi started with her address.
After the address, Gandhi asked AICC general secretary organisation K C Venugopal to read out the Organisational Election Schedule sent by chairperson of the Central Election Authority.
The CEC chaired by Madhusudan Mistry has proposed that the AICC Session and the party president's election be held on May 29, with the process of nomination filing starting in the month of May itself.
The party's top leadership also discussed the current political situation in the wake of the farmers' agitation and the party's strategy ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament on various issues, including the leaked WhatsApp chats of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami.
Sonia Gandhi took over as the interim Congress president in August 2019 after Rahul Gandhi resigned in the wake of the party's Lok Sabha debacle in May 2019.
There have been demands from a section of the Congress leaders for having a full-time and active party president and an organisational overhaul.
The CWC had in its earlier meeting decided to hold organisational elections, following a storm in the party in August last year over a letter to Sonia Gandhi by a group of 23 leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari and Mukul Wasnik raising these issues.
Sonia Gandhi had last month met some of these 'letter-writers' and discussed the issues raised by them.
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Sharad Pawar's 'merger with Cong' remark shows it's difficult for him to run his party,says Fadnavis
Mumbai, May 8: NCP founder Sharad Pawar's remark on regional parties' possible merger with the Congress shows it has become difficult for him to manage his own party, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde latched on to Pawar's comment to target Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, saying the latter has already become "Congress-minded".
Another leader of the ruling 'Mahayuti' in Maharashtra said Pawar's remarks reflect that ground was slipping from under his feet in his home turf Baramati and the only option before him was merging his party with the Congress.
In an interview to The Indian Express, Pawar said that in the next couple of years, several regional parties will associate more closely with the Congress or may look at the option of merger with it if they believe that is best for their party.
To a question if that applied to his own party, Pawar told the newspaper that he doesn't see any difference between the Congress and his party because both belong to the Gandhi, Nehru line of thinking.
Pawar made it clear that any decision on strategy or the next step will be taken collectively. He also said that his party is close to the Congress ideologically and that Uddhav Thackeray is positive about working together with like-minded parties.
Asked about Pawar's remark, Shinde said the Shiv Sena (UBT) has already become Congress-minded.
"Pawar is a big leader and he makes such statements. But the Sena (UBT) faction has already become Congress as they speak the language of the Congress and Pakistan," Shinde, who heads the ruling Shiv Sena, said.
"Just the formality (of merger between them) is remaining," he added.
Fadnavis said that through his remark, Pawar might be suggesting that it was difficult for him to run his party and hence he may opt to merge it with the Congress.
"It is nothing new because Pawar has formed new parties and later merged them with the Congress," he said.
Former Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, who recently rejoined the ruling Shiv Sena led by CM Shinde, said Pawar has been thinking about merging his party with the Congress for a long time and even the Congress had given the proposal to this effect to him.
"But Congress rejected the proposal to entrust the leadership to Supriya Sule. Pawar's fresh comment suggests that the ground is slipping from under his feet in Baramati. Even if that is not the case, he has no option but merge his party with Congress which will be seen as a merger of two loss-making companies," the former MP said.
BJP leader Prasad Lad asked whether the Sena (UBT) will merge with the Congress along with the Sharad Pawar-led party.
"Uddhav Thackeray has stopped saying 'My Hindu brothers and sisters' at the outset of his speeches. He has become friends with those who criticise Veer Savarkar. Only time will tell whether Thackeray will merge his party with Congress," he said.
NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule said her father made a generic statement.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly and senior Congress leader Vijay Waddetiwar said there was truth in what Pawar said.
"He has a long-term vision. People are fed up with the dictatorial regime and want a change of guard," he said, targeting the BJP-led government.
Chhagan Bhujbal of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP said he doesn't think regional parties will merge with the Congress.
"They are strong in their respective states and have formed governments in West Bengal and Odisha," he said, referring to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
The NCP founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999 split in July 2023 after his nephew Ajit Pawar rebelled against him and joined the Eknath Shinde-led government. The Election Commission and assembly speaker later recognised the Ajit Pawar-led faction as the "real NCP" and allotted the clock symbol to it, while the NCP (SP) group was given 'man blowing turha' as the symbol.
