Next Congress President | SCOOP: Party leaders discuss Rahul Gandhi's successor in Gandhi-Vadras' absence, want CWC meeting to be called post-haste

In the urgent meeting attended by top Congress leaders barring Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, the matter of the Congress president was discussed, say sources. 

As per sources, no names were suggested in the meeting but the opinion of the leaders was sought on the matter. More significantly, the members sought to call the meeting of Congress Working Committee (CWC) immediately, the sources added.

The meeting was attended by leaders like Mukul Wasnik, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ahmed Patel, Motilal Vora, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, AK Antony, Mallikarjun Kharge, P Chidambaram and Randeep Surjewala. Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi were not present in the meeting.

READ | SCOOP: Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia In Frame For Congress President As Captain Amarinder Singh Joins Chorus For Young Leader To Succeed Rahul Gandhi

Trouble mounted on the Congress leadership after Rahul Gandhi resigned as its chief following the party's Lok Sabha drubbing. The old guard in the party wanted a senior party member who was a Gandhi-loyalist to be interim chief until the Gandhi family retained control, sources had informed. Following Saturday's newsbreak where Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh openly called for a younger leader to step up to take over the party's reins, the members have dropped the plan to have a stop-gap president, sources said.Now, the party is divided with senior leaders wanting a Gandhi loyalist to take over as party president. but sources have informed that many including three-four senior leader favour young blood such as Rajasthan CM Sachin Pilot or former Guna (Madhya Pradesh) MP Jyotiraditya Scindia to take over.

In the meeting, the ongoing political crisis in Karnataka was discussed. At least ten Congress MLAs had quit sources said. C Venugopal flew to Bengaluru to meet the dissenting leaders. Amid the crisis, Republic TV received a scoop that JD(S) leader CM HD Kumaraswamy was willing to resign as he wanted to avoid the embarrassment of trust vote being conducted in the assembly.

READ | Next Congress President | MASSIVE Crisis Hits Gandhi-Vadras As Top Cong Leaders To Hold War-room Meeting Without Sonia And Rahul Gandhi To Discuss Next Party Chief