In a major development, interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has made appointments to several positions in the party, in which dissenting leaders who suggested internal reforms have been "largely ignored", sources familiar with the development have revealed.
While the party’s senior leader Jairam Ramesh, who was not part of the dissenting group, has been appointed as Congress' chief whip, a committee for the parliament’s upper house (Rajya Sabha) has also been constituted, comprising Sonia's close aides such as her political adviser Ahmed Patel and K.C. Venugopal.
Party veterans such as Ghulam Nabi Azad and deputy leader Anand Sharma, who played critical roles in drafting the dissenting letter that demanded a leadership overhaul in the party, have been largely sidelined.
A total of 23 key Congress members had written a letter to party interim chief Sonia Gandhi, which was discussed at a stormy Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Monday.
The "sidelined" group of Congress officials were targeted at the meeting for the letter calling for sweeping reforms and a "full-time, visible leadership".
While Sonia had offered to resign ahead of the Monday meeting, she was asked by members attending the meeting to carry on with her role in the "interest of the party" until the next chief is found in the next few months.
Days later, Azad, the leader of the party in Rajya Sabha, on Thursday again called for internal elections in the party. He said the members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s core decision making body, should be elected and not appointed. Sonia is part of the CWC.
Meanwhile, another senior leader, Kapil Sibal, a signatory to the dissenting letter, has maintained that Congress is at a "historic" low and needs "full-time" leadership.
While a section of party has reposed their faith in Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul Gandhi to take charge of the organisations, another section is averse to it and has demanded a non-Gandhi family leadership.
