Sonia Gandhi to remain Congress' interim president for another week until CWC picks its next leader

• The Congress Working Committee (CWC) ended without a decision who should be the party's next president.
• Sonia Gandhi will continue as the party's interim president, at least until next week, when the CWC is scheduled to meet again.
• The All India Congress Committee (AICC) plans to initiate the process of selecting a new leader as soon as possible.
• Some want Rahul Gandhi to return to the helm, while others want a non-Gandhi contender at the head of the table.

Sonia Gandhi will remain Congress' interim president as confusion reigned at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting earlier today. The head of the Gandhi family offered to resign as party president, but Manmohan Singh rejected this, and Rahul Gandhi questioned the timing of the request for a change in leadership.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Kamal Nath, is also pushed for Sonia Gandhi to remain Congress chief akin to Singh. Ahmed Patel, on the other hand, wants Rahul Gandhi to take the reigns instead.

In a letter, signed by at least 300 Congress leaders including CWC member Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sonia Gandhi was asked to step down as interim Congress president to make way from someone outside of the Gandhi family. However, sources now tell PTI that the CWC is urging Sonia Gandhi to stay on after today's meeting.


The letter by Azad and others was been met with resistance from certain quarters. Some want Rahul Gandhi to return to the helm while others don’t want Sonia Gandhi to vacate the position in the first place.

Even though the CWC grappled with the issue for nearly seven hours today, they were unable to reach a consensus. Another CWC is set to happen next week, it can been early as Monday or sometime later. It is likely to be sooner rather later according PTI with the All India Congress Committee (AICC) looking to initiate the process of choosing the next Congress president.



Sonia Gandhi wants to step down
Sonia Gandhi, in response to the letter urging for reforms, said that she is willing to step down. In wanting to leave, she also called for Congress to initiate the process of selecting a new party chief.

However, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked Sonia Gandhi to continue, and senior Congress leader AK Antony questioned the letter seeking leadership change.

Her son and former president of the party, Rahul Gandhi, criticised the letter and questioned its timing. “We are colluding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),” he said according to PTI. A remark that he claims he never made.


Even though Rahul Gandhi has repeated said that he has no interest in returning to the head of the table, Congress leader Ahmed Patel demanded that he take over as Congress chief.

Several Congress workers gathered outside the party's headquarters in Delhi were also spotted holding placards in support of the Gandhi party. One read "Gandhi pariwar ke alawa koi adhyaksh bana, toh party toot hi jayegi" (if anybody outside the Gandhi family becomes chief, the party will break).

The meeting ended in a stalemate with party members unable to reach a consensus on whether they want Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi or a non-Gandhi at the helm.

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From Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to Manmohan Singh, these are the stated views of Congress Working Committee members on Sonia Gandhi's resignation