Rahul Gandhi again skips key CWC meet before Delhi polls amid Congress internal strife

Heralding the new year's first Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Saturday, decided to skip the meeting. Gandhi who is still a CWC member inspite of not holding any organisational posts was absent from the key meeting which was chaired by party interim chief Sonia Gandhi and was attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, top party leaders P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, A K Antony, K C Venugopal, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jyotiraditya Scindia were among those present. The meeting was also called to give shape to the Congress's strategy in the wake of widespread student protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), which the party has vocally opposed and supported student protests against it.

Congress Working Committee meets to deliberate on CAA, NRC, violence in university campuses

CWC meet ahead of Delhi polls

The meeting which was held at the party's headquarters in New Delhi was focussed on discussing the state of the economy, growing tensions in the country and to come out with a resolution highlighting its future strategies on these issues. This meet comes amid the highly anticipated Delhi polls on February 8 where the Congress is facing a tough challenge from incumbent AAP government and a resurgent BJP. The party is currently going through internal strife after the Congress awarded a ticket to 1984 riots convict Sajjan Kumar's aide- Jagdish Tytler - who is also accused in the same case - in the upcoming Delhi polls. Tytler also attended the CWC meet.

Rahul Gandhi skips key Congress meet, party mulls RSS-style 'Preraks'

Rahul's absence from CWC meet

This is not the first time that Rahul Gandhi was absent from a key CWC meet ahead of state polls. Previously in September, Gandhi skipped the fisrts meeting after his mother took charge as interim-party president. The meeting which was held to decide its strategy for the various state elections after the 2019 Lok Sabha drubbing was attended by top leaders like former PM Manmohan Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, KC Venugopal, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Congress reveals absurd reason for Rahul Gandhi's absence at AICC meet

Subsequently, Congress claimed that Rahul Gandhi was not invited to the meeting as he does not 'fall in the criteria of leaders called for the meeting'. The party reportedly claims that Singh was called to discuss economic issues and his presence was allegedly not mandatory. Since Congress accepted his resignation, Rahul Gandhi technically holds no organizational post except for Congress Working Committee (CWC) member.

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