New Delhi: After months of waiting, Congress party finally had a meeting of Senior leaders with party President Sonia Gandhi, but surprisingly Rahul Gandhi's close aides KC Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala gave it a miss.
Absence of Venugopal, who is the General Secretary Incharge of AICC, and Surjewala, the Chief Spokesperson of Congress party, raised certain questions, if the two were deliberately not being called for the meeting.
According to the sources, Randeep Singh Surjewala's comments regarding the presidential elections within the party, that 99.9 percent Congress workers want Rahul Gandhi to return to the post, did not go well with few of the senior leaders, including those who had written dissent letter to Sonia Gandhi. The 'dissenters' or 'rebels' felt that the statement was made to downplay the concerns raised by them in their letter.
Apart from this, some of the senior leaders also made an indirect attack on Surjewala and Rajiv Satav, who is also considered as a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, for the party's loss in Bihar Assembly Elections and Gujarat by polls.
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Meanwhile, many of the Congress members also showed dissent over the elevation of Venugopal in the party. Even on Saturday, when the meeting was held, Joint Secretary Incharge of NSUI, Ruchi Gupta quit Congress party, blaming Venugopal for 'continuous delays in organizational changes'.
When asked about the reason, party sources close to Venugopal informed that he had gone to his native place in Kerala to perform some rituals after the demise of his mother. While on the other hand, Surjewala was 'unwell' on the day of party meeting.
After the meeting, Congress' senior leader and AICC treasurer, Pawan Bansal told reporters, "It was a very constructive meeting and everyone present there have suggestions and all was taken note of. It was a very productive meeting to energies the party and to fight the forces which are inverting the narrative and upturning the idea of India."
