Sonia Gandhi meets Congress dissenters in bid to end leadership crisis

Congress president Sonia Gandhi Saturday met a group of party leaders who had written to her a few months ago seeking a complete overhaul of the organisation.

This is the first time that Gandhi is meeting Congress leaders in person since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Rahul Gandhi is also attending the meeting.

The meeting also includes some of Sonia Gandhi's close associates and is the first effort by the Congress leadership for a reproachment with those who raised questions over the leadership.

Those attending the meeting from among the letter-writers are Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, deputy leader of the party in the upper House Anand Sharma, former chief ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan, and MPs Manish Tewari, Vivek Tankha and Shashi Tharoor.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath and senior leader P Chidambaram are also part of the meeting, the sources said.

Also read: On eve of Sonia's meeting with 'letter writers', Congress again asserts Rahul best suited to lead party

Among Sonia loyalists at the discussion that will include a range of issues, primarily organisational elections, are A K Antony, Ambika Soni, Ashok Gehlot and Harish Rawat, besides Pawan Bansal.

Sources said a number of organisational issues is likely to be discussed at the meeting.

The Congress has already decided to hold elections for the post of Congress president and that process is underway.

Sonia Gandhi will be meeting a host of other leaders in the coming days, the sources said.