The four-hour Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting concluded on Sunday with senior members requesting party president Sonia Gandhi to continue to lead from the front. The meeting was held to introspect the Congress’s crushing defeat in five states – Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur – leading to renewed demands from several quarters for a change in the party’s leadership.

One of the demands made at the meeting was more accessibility of Congress leaders, especially Rahul Gandhi, which has been one of the major complaints of party members. Another demand raised by senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was fixing responsibilities. Azad, however, also made it clear that neither he nor any of the dissenting G-23 members are against the Gandhis.

According to sources, Sonia Gandhi, while addressing the meeting, said Gandhis are ready to step down and take responsibility for the election defeat. “I am often told that some of you feel we three are responsible for the state of affairs. If that is how you feel, then we three (Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka) are willing to sacrifice and step down,” she was quoted by sources as saying at the meeting.

This brings back memories of a moment in 2004 when Sonia Gandhi had refused to become the PM and there was an emotional outburst, following which senior party members had demanded that she continue to serve as the party president. She had agreed at the time but said that elections to the post of party president would have to be held and that she would give up her position soon.

Another point of discussion at the meeting was the emergence of AAP as a force to reckon with in Punjab where it dealt a body blow to the Congress by romping home 92 seats in the 117-member assembly. The Punjab elections results stung the Congress so bad that senior leaders like Ambika Sonia said the AAP juggernaut needs to be stopped at any cost.

With key assembly elections in states like Gujarat and Karnataka coming up next, AAP is clearly setting a target to expand its footprint. And, if Congress doesn’t shake up the status quo, the party’s endgame seems inevitable, sources said.

Meet again in April to chart the future course of action

All Congress state in-charges, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, took responsibility for the party’s poor performance and Sonia also admitted that she should have insisted on removing Captain Amarinder Singh earlier, and not a few months before the Punjab elections. She, however, disagreed that Amarinder’s removal just three months before polls had hurt the Congress, sources told CNN-News18.

Captain Amarinder quit Congress last year following months of an acrimonious power tussle with his bete noire Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was made the Punjab Congress chief.

Sources also said that Sonia agreed that it was too late to send Harish Rawat to Uttarakhand as he was already too busy to fix the Congress crisis in Punjab. Rawat, who was fighting a do or die poll battle this time, lost from the Lalkuan seat in Uttarakhand – registering his fourth straight election defeat.

The CWC meeting had once again made one thing clear – Sonia Gandhi is still the boss, at least on paper, as decisions are still to be finally taken by Rahul Gandhi.

The meeting also saw some interesting developments, with Congress senior leaders raising demands that were earlier mooted by those who have now quit the party. One among those demands was the need for the Gandhi family to be more accessible to party workers and members.

However, behind all these demands, there was also a clear message that Sonia Gandhi should continue to stay on as the Congress president. Most in the Congress believe that Sonia seems to be a safer bet to lead the party, sources said, adding that this is due to her track record as a leader, who has delivered better than her son Rahul.

The party again plans to meet in April to discuss the future course of action.

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