New Delhi: As the Congress Working Committee meeting is being scheduled for Friday, with all eyes on the long-pending internal polls of the party, it is still unclear whether any decision would be taken over the matter or the process would be further delayed.
While there is a strong demand within the party for organizational overhaul, COVID-19 outbreak and the upcoming Assembly Elections in 5 states may become an obstacle for the election of new Congress President as well as for the Congress Working Committee, anytime soon.
"Elections for Congress Working Committee is a way too long process. It is very much time-consuming. Currently, the party needs to focus on the upcoming Assembly Elections. If we will conduct elections at this stage, the entire focus will get diverted," said a source.
In August, the CWC meeting had decided that in the next six months, the party will finalise the schedule for organisational elections and a Plenary Session will be called afterwards. However, due to COVID-19 pandemic, Congress Plenary Session is likely to be delayed further.
A top leader of the Congress party said, "Around 1,400 people are AICC members. Calling a Plenary Session would mean that more than 5000-6000 people would be gathered at one place. It won't be feasible in Coronavirus outbreak. So now, CWC will decide the future course of action."
Sonia Gandhi was being appointed as Congress Interim President in August. However, she demanded that the process of selecting her successor should begin at the earliest as she wanted to get relieved from the party's top post. Currently, there are strong efforts and demands by the party members for Rahul Gandhi to take back the post of Congress Chief, from which he resigned in 2019.
As per the sources, the Central Election Authority (CEA) has completed it's preparation to conduct internal elections and a list of AICC delegates has already been submitted to Sonia Gandhi. A member of CEA informed that they are just waiting for a go-ahead from CWC, after which they will start the process for elections.
When asked about the matter, a leader said on condition of anonymity, "Whenever these elections would be conducted, the entire focus will be shifted from the Assembly Elections to the organisational election, which is not good for the party right now. It would be better that the election will be conducted after some months, even if the dates get decided in tomorrow's meeting."
The demand for organisational overhaul was being made in the letter written by 23 top leaders of the party to Sonia Gandhi, where they asserted over the need of an "active, full-time and visible" leadership.
The opposition camp is also raising a concern as the grand old party is not being able to set their house in order and to provide the leadership required. There was also a discussion within the opposition that NCP chief Sharad Pawar should head the UPA. However, he denied the reports but Congress believes that pressure is mounting upon the party.
The Congress Working Committee meeting will be held today at 10:30 am via video conferencing. Congress may also pass a resolution over the ongoing farmer's agitation against the three contentious farm laws.
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