Congress sources told ANI on the condition of anonymity that 'Rahul Gandhi left the country on May 19 to participate in various public programs in London that were held on May 20 to May 23. Since then, he has not returned to India'.

According to sources, Sonia Gandhi took a jibe on party leaders, "You all are sitting together right but otherwise you don't even talk to each other."

Earlier, only Azad was scheduled to meet Sonia Gandhi.

"Opinions of candidates, workers, and party MPs are being recorded to so that any feud over the CM face between Channi and Navjot Singh Siddhu can be avoided," said sources.

While a tweet from a close aide of the Gandhi's and the Chief Whip of the party in Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh took a dig on Azad for accepting the award, Congress stalwarts from the G-23 group have congratulated him for the 'well-deserved' award.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has said she is not the only face of the party for Uttar Pradesh assembly polls and her remarks at a press conference on Friday about being the face of the party were made in a 'slight exaggerated way' in response to repeated queries from the media on the issue.

Apart from Chamkaur Sahib assembly seat which comes in Maajha region of Punjab, Congress is all set to field CM Channi from Adampur assembly constituency which falls in the Doaba Region.

Mamata's 'there is no United Progressive Alliance (UPA)' remark after a meeting in Mumbai with Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, an ally of Congress in Maharashtra, evoked a strong response from the party, currently being led by interim president Sonia Gandhi.

A senior party leader on the condition of anonymity said the CWC meeting will be called next week although the agenda is to be worked out and finalised.

The sources said that the party may opt for 'One Person One Post' formula and this would entail finding a replacement for Chowdhury, who is chief of Congress in West Bengal.

Rahul Gandhi had earlier talked to the MLAs over the phone ahead of the meeting of the AICC panel on Punjab.

After some recent events that turned against the party, including the Congress' G-23 Group asking for a revamp in the party, Congress leader and MP Manish Tiwari has been included in the star campaigners list of Congress for Assam and West Bengal Assembly polls.

Prominent G-23 members including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal and Manish Tewari have not been included in the Congress list of star campaigners for West Bengal assembly elections.

On Monday, when Rahul Gandhi missed the party's 136th Foundation Day celebration event as he is travelling abroad to see his grandmother, and Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi couldn't attend the event due Covid-19 pandemic, Priyanka Gandhi took charge.

According to sources, Gandhi himself is taking stock of poll preparedness by talking to leaders and listening to their views for poll strategy.

He was elected as a local body councillor in 1976 in Bharuch Municipal body of Gujarat at the age of 25 years and became the political secretary of Sonia Gandhi and remained a bridge during UPA-I tenure between the party and the government.

According to information received from sources, there will be a meeting at 5 pm through video conferencing but its agenda is not clear.

The central election authority of the Congress met and finalised the initial program of the process.

According to a close source to Vadra, she was already scheduled to set up base in Lucknow. For this, renovation work had already been initiated at Sheila Kaul's residence from January.

P Chidambaram proposed that Sonia should be made the party's interim president.