No move to replace Sonia Gandhi as UPA chief: Congress
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Congress Working Committee member shrugs off stories.
A member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Thursday mentioned that stories of Nationalist Congress Party NCP chief Sharad Pawar taking on as the pinnacle of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was is a ploy to break Opposition unity and divert consideration from urgent points such as the continued farmers’ strike.
Speculation that Mr. Pawar could possibly be requested by non-Congress events to take over as the UPA chairperson momentum after the NCP chief, in a latest interview, had questioned former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s “consistency as well as leadership abilities”.
It additionally comes at a time when the Congress is gearing up for organisational elections to elect a brand new social gathering president.
There has additionally been renewed exercise by a bit of group of 23 Congress leaders (G-23) who had written a letter to Ms. Gandhi in August to press for organizational revamp.
“To the best of my knowledge, Sonia ji continues to be the UPA chairperson and there is no move to replace her. Congress is a bigger party and naturally, president of the Congress will head the UPA,” Tariq Anwar, a member of the CWC, advised The Puucho.
Mr. Anwar, a former founding member of the NCP and colleague of Mr Pawar, mentioned “such stories are also planted to divert attention from issues like the on-going farmers’ protests”.
However, discuss of Mr. Pawar taking part in a much bigger function within the opposition ranks could possibly be linked to apprehension amongst some opposition events as to who might replace Ms. Gandhi as the Congress chief.
Ms Gandhi will step down as soon as the social gathering’s the Central Election Authority (CEA) corporations up a timeline for organisational elections and the following All India Congress Committee (AICC) session.
While the elections schedule could also be prepared as early as this month, the AICC session is unlikely earlier than January or end-February.
Organisational elections and having elected members to the CWC had been among the many key calls for of the Congress dissenters.
“If Rahul contests, then I don’t think we would have a candidate but if there is someone else, then it is altogether a different scenario,” mentioned a member of the G-23.
Among different issues, the G-23 had additionally pitched for getting former Congress leaders, who now head regional events, underneath one umbrella to tackle the BJP.
“We have not heard anything about Mr. Pawar as the UPA chief,” mentioned the chief quoted above.
