Congress appoints Sonia Gandhi as interim party chief

mangaloretoday.com/ yahoo

New Delhi, Aug 10: The Congress Working Committee (CWC) after hours of meeting on Saturday, named UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi as the interim party president. Before that, the party had stopped deliberation to find the next party chief citing issues surrounding Jammu and Kashmir. Briefing media, Former party chief Rahul Gandhi said, “The meeting was ongoing when reports of issues surround J&K arrived and therefore the meeting has been stopped. The government needs to tell the people what is happening in the state with complete transparency.”

Hours after the Congress Working Committee formed five subgroups to propose names for the party chief, Rahul Gandhi is once again likely to emerge as the top pick. The five groups took recommendations from state leaders across India and will submit the suggestion to the CWC.

Earlier, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former party president Rahul Gandhi refused to participate in the consultation process to zero in on the next party chief. After holding talks during the crucial meeting at the AICC headquarters in Delhi, Sonia said as former presidents of the party, the mother-son duo cannot participate in the process. “We cannot be part of this process,” Sonia Gandhi said after she recused herself from the deliberations.