In the wake of several Congress leaders quitting the party and its Punjab unit in turmoil, Sibal demanded that an immediate meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) be convened and wondered who in the party was taking decisions in the absence of a full-time president.
The Congress, which is not very keen on having an alliance with the TMC, called it 'an untrustworthy ally', which is trying to grow at its expense.
Gandhi had urged the Congress Working Committee to entrust a group of people with the task of finding a new president as it would not be proper for him to do so.
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal told the media after a meeting at party chief Sonia Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence that that the CWC was briefed on the discussion between NCP and Congress on Wednesday.
Gehlot said Sonia Gandhi should continue to lead the party and if she has made up her mind, then Rahul Gandhi should come ahead and be the Congress president as the country faces the biggest challenge to save its democracy.
Mother and son refuse to go away despite indications blowing in the wind that their leadership is ringing the death knell of the party, observes Ramesh Menon.
Addressing the Congress Working Committee meeting, she said thousands of young men and women, especially students have realised the "grave harm" that implementation of the new citizenship law will cause.
The Congress is likely to enforce the 'One family, one ticket' formula granting exemption to only another family member who has been doing 'exemplary work' for the party for a period of at least five years, as the grand old party promised big ticket changes while acknowledging that it had not kept pace with changing times.
The ambit of the G-23 grouping increased this time as some more leaders -- Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, former Gujarat chief minister Shankar Singh Vaghela, former union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and former Haryana speaker Kuldeep Sharma -- joined them.
Senior Congress leaders Anand Sharma, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kapil Sibbal, Raj Babbar, Vivek Tankha, Ghulam Nabi Azad will address an event in Jammu on Saturday which Manish Tiwari is also expected to join.
Baghel went on to allege that the RSS brought "aggressive Hindutva" here, saying that it believes in "destroying everyone whose thinking does not match theirs".
Scindia's exit from the Congress in March this year with over 20 MLAs, led to the collapse of Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh and enabled the BJP's return to power.
Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury while making these points however, spoke out against any need for change in the top leadership of the party, stating that both Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi have been 'trying wholeheartedly'.
Party president Sonia Gandhi, former chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress chief ministers Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan, Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh and Charanjit Channi of Punjab attended the meeting.
'Since we defeated their evil designs on July 10, their poaching approach became more aggressive with using blackmail and money power as tools to finish off the political opposition in Goa.'
'Why are the people who stood with the Congress through thick and thin, why are they leaving?'
Azad said it was a good meeting with the Congress president with the discussion centred on how to prepare and fight unitedly the forthcoming assembly polls to take on rival parties.
He also said that the party "cannot be selective in fighting the communists" and it must do so in all its manifestations, irrespective of religion and colour.
The Congress Working Committee finally accepted Rahul Gandhi's resignation during its second meeting of the day.
'When I said the Gandhi family had to step aside, it was because we have consistently seen that the public has not accepted them.'
Opinion polls by a section of the media channels have stated that Harish Rawat is the most liked politician for the post of chief minister, way ahead of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
The Congress Working Committee will meet on Sunday to discuss the outcome of the assembly elections in five states where the party received a drubbing, sources said.
Noting that a very important policy for advancement of SCs and STs was Schedules Caste Sub-Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan, Raju said the group has recommended a central and states' legislation on them.
A new Congress leader may make an electoral impact by his very presence. Congress voters who had moved away from the party, after being influenced by the BJP's 'family rule' campaign, can now return with a certain moral satisfaction, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
From the 'group of 23' leaders, who had written letter to Gandhi seeking Congress' overhaul, Azad and Sharma continue to be regular members of the CWC,
The party is divided on the leadership matter with a section demanding collective leadership and another reposing faith in the Gandhi family.
'I am requesting Sonia Gandhi to listen to her inner voice again.' 'Then, she will know this is the time for the family to step aside.'
It comes a day after party chief Sonia Gandhi proposed, at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, the formation of a group to assess the party's losses in Kerala, Assam, West Bengal and Puducherry.
The veteran Congress leader said the NDA's success was attributable to the absence of a strong and united Opposition.
The Congress veteran said that a stronger emphasis needs to be laid on grassroot leadership and that there is a need to rebuild the party's structure.
A day after the Congress brainstormed over its electoral reverses, senior leader M Veerappa Moily on Monday said Sonia Gandhi should take "full control" of the party with a free hand to change non-performing leaders, and asserted that a "mere culture of tweets and social media propaganda" would not take the organisation forward.
Tharoor's appeal came in support of his party colleague and former MP Sandeep Dikshit's remarks that the the biggest challenge the party faces is the 'leadership question'.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday chaired his first meeting of the newly constituted Congress Working Committee two days after the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha which the Opposition lost.
'I think 50 per cent of the problem will be solved if the top leadership in Delhi becomes accessible'
Sonia asked CWC members "to begin deliberations towards the process of transition to relieve her from the duty of party chief"
Sources said Sonia Gandhi referred to Azad and others twice during her brief address and the issues raised by them.
'You need a leader whom India can identify with and I cannot think of any other leader except Sachin Pilot in the Congress party.'
If not now, when, asks Virendra Kapoor.
'This kind of poisonous and anti-national activities happening in the country and the economic failure of the Modi government may boomerang in the form of a Congress revival.'
'It was disappointing on two counts. One is on the leadership issue and second is how the Congress must win elections.'
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