new Delhi: Senior Congress leader and G-23 group member Ghulam Nabi Azad is set to meet Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath today, news agency ANI reported. .
According to ANI sources, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also be present in the meeting. The meeting assumes significance in view of the G-23 leaders’ dissatisfaction with the working style of the Congress leadership.
According to ANI, Azad can present the final proposal of G-23 members to the party high command. The future of the G-23 group will be decided in the meeting.
The meeting comes a day after Azad hosted dinner for G-23 leaders at his home.
Those who attended Wednesday’s meeting were Kapil Sibal, Shashi Tharoor, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, Mani Shankar Aiyar, PJ Kurien, Parneet Kaur, Sandeep Dikshit, and Raj Babbar among others.
According to ANI sources, the meeting was earlier scheduled to take place at the residence of Kapil Sibal, who had invited the G-23 leaders for dinner. However, it was later converted into Azad’s residence following Sibal’s remarks on the Gandhi family.
In an interview given to a newspaper after the defeat of the Congress in five assembly elections, Sibal had said that there is a need for change of leadership in the Congress and someone other than the Gandhi family needs to take charge.
“Leadership is in the cuckoo’s land… I want ‘Sab ki Congress’. Some want ‘Ghar ki Congress’,” he said.
After the meeting at Azad’s residence, the G-23 members issued a joint statement saying that the only way forward for the Congress party is to adopt the model of inclusive leadership.
“We… members of the Congress Party met to deliberate on the disappointing outcome of the recent assembly elections and the frequent exodus of both our workers and leaders. We believe that for the Congress party at all levels The only way out is to adopt a model of collective and inclusive leadership and decision making.
To oppose the BJP, it is necessary to strengthen the Congress party. We demand the Congress party to initiate dialogue with other like-minded forces to create a platform to pave the way for a credible alternative for 2024,” the statement further said.