Congress to discuss Lakhimpur violence, internal polls at CWC meet on 16 October

New Delhi: Top Congress leadership will gather here on 16 October to deliberate on the current political situation, including the Lakhimpur violence, and decide on the organisational elections at a meeting of the party’s working committee. The meeting of the Congress’ top decision-making body has been convened after demands from some quarters within the party to discuss important issues, including some defections in the recent past. Former leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad had also written to the Congress president to convene a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) soon. AICC general secretary KC Venugopal tweeted, “A meeting of the Congress Working Committee will be held on Saturday, the 16th October, 2021 at 10 am at AICC Office, 24, Akbar Road, New Delhi to discuss current political situation, forthcoming assembly elections and organisational elections.” The party leadership is also likely to decide on the schedule for electing the new Congress chief. The party, in its CWC meeting, held on 22 January had decided that the Congress would have an elected president by June 2021, but the same was deferred at the May 10 CWC meet in the wake of the COVID-19 situation. The latest meeting is being held in the wake of Lakhimpur clashes on 3 October in which eight people lost their lives, including four farmers who were allegedly run over by an SUV belonging to the convoy of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra. The incident has given enough ammo to the Congress to corner the BJP government and recapture the lost political space. The CWC meeting will also discuss certain dissenting notes rising within the party over the spate of defections and the party’s poor electoral fortunes. Sonia Gandhi took over as the interim Congress president in August 2019 after Rahul Gandhi resigned in the wake of the party’s Lok Sabha debacle in May 2019. There have been demands from a section of Congress leaders for having a full-time and active party president as well as an organisational overhaul. The demand grew louder after a storm in the party in August last year over a letter to Sonia Gandhi by a group of 23 leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari and Mukul Wasnik raising these issues.