New Delhi: Veteran Congress leader Mukul Wasnik was the name suggested by G-23 leaders for the post of Congress party president.
The report comes ahead of a high-level meeting of the Congress Working Committee on Sunday at 4 pm to discuss the party’s poor performance in the 2022 assembly polls in all five states amid reports of a possible change in the top leadership.
Presently Sonia Gandhi is the interim President of Congress.
According to sources, G-23 leaders had given a name to a dissident group within the party, which includes stalwarts like Kapil Sibal, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, who suggested Mukul Wasnik for the post of party president. .
However, reports suggest that Wasnik’s name was not accepted by the Congress Working Committee.
The source, who is part of the G23, also said that the new party president should lead the party in the same manner as Sonia Gandhi did in the early 2000s.
“Though Sonia Gandhi is the (interim) president, it is virtually being run by KC Venugopal, Ajay Maken and Randeep Surjewala. There is no accountability fixed on them,” the source said.
“Rahul Gandhi is not the president. But he works behind the scenes and takes decisions. He does not communicate openly. We are well-wishers of the party, not enemies,” the source said.
Rahul Gandhi had resigned from the post of Congress President in 2019 after the party suffered a second consecutive defeat in the general elections.
Later, Sonia Gandhi, who took over the reins of the party again as interim president, also offered to step down in August 2020 following an open rebellion by a section of leaders, called G-23, but the CWC He was urged to continue.