CWC opts for wider consultations on Congress President

Congress on Saturday opted for wider consultations over the selection of the next party president to succeed Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress Working Committee (CWC), which began its meeting here on Saturday morning, split itself into five working groups which would hold consultations on the next leader of the party before arriving at a decision.

Leaders of state units and Congress Legislature Parties were asked to remain present at the AICC Headquarters on Saturday for the consultation process.

CWC members Ambika Soni, Ahmed Patel, Oommen Chandy, Harish Rawat, Deepak Babaria, Balasaheb Thorat, Anugrah Narayan Singh, K H Muniyappa, Luizinho Faleiro, Meira Kumar, Sachin Rao and Arun Yadav will consult the party leaders from north-east region.

Sonia Gandhi, Tarun Gogoi, Kumari Selja, Gaikhangam, KC Venugopal, Jitendra Singh, RPN Singh, P L Punia, Shaktisinh Gohil, Deepender Hooda and Sushmita Dev will hold discussions with leaders from the eastern region – Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Avinash Pandey, Tamradhwaj Sahu, Raghuveer Meena, P Chidambaram, Jyotiraditya Scindia, P C Chacko, Asha Kumari G Sanjeeva Reddy and Rajni Patil will deliberate with leaders from northern region comprising Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Motilal Vora, A K Antony, Siddaramaiah, A Chella Kumar, Jitin Prasada, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Srinivas B V and Gaurav Gogoi will consult leaders from the western region comprising, Gujarat, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mumbai and Rajasthan.

Discussions with the southern region will be held by a group led by Manmohan Singh, Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Randeep Surjewala, R C Khuntia, Tariq Hameed Karra, Lalji Desai, Neeraj Kundan and Rajiv Satav.

At a meeting of Congress leaders on Friday, Rahul had said his successor should be chosen after wider consultations with state leaders and the legislature party. In the meeting, it was decided that leaders of the Congress's state units and the legislature parties will be invited to take part in the meeting today to appoint a new party president.