Congress CWC meeting begins at Indira Bhawan; Siddaramaiah, Tharoor among others present

Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and other senior party leaders are present in the meeting, which is underway.

Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, Congress Senior Leader Harish Rawat, Former External Affairs Minister Salman Khursid, MP Rajeev Shukla, and MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi were among the other leaders present at the meeting.

Notably, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah was also present at the meeting amid the speculation of leadership change in the state, with Deputy CM DK Shivakumar adamant about fulfilling the 2.5-year leadership change agreement reportedly made after the 2023 Assembly election.

DK Shivakumar has not been invited to the CWC meeting. "I am aware that two, three CMs have been invited. But the DCM has not been invited," he said earlier.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was also present at the meeting despite his on-and-off relationship with the party.

In recent times, Tharoor has made headlines for skipping Congress meetings and praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address at the Ramnath Goenka Lecture.

He had skipped Congress's 'Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod' rally at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi due to his engagement abroad. Tharoor also skipped the meeting of Congress LS MPs chaired by Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi.

According to party sources, Tharoor had already informed the party about his unavailability, and another senior Congress leader and Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari was also absent from the meeting. According to Shashi Tharoor's X timeline, he was at an event hosted by Prabha Khaitan Foundation in Kolkata.

Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party National Spokesperson CR Kesavan questioned whether the party will hold Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi "accountable" for his failure in the Bihar Assembly election and "disastrous vote chori campaign."

In a post on X, CR Kesavan said, "The INC [Insecure Nehru Congress] has called for its first CWC [Congress Whitewash Committee] meeting after the party was routed and rejected by the people in the Bihar Elections. Will the CWC dare to pin the onus and responsibility on Rahul Gandhi for Congress's dismal Bihar drubbing and his disastrous vote chori campaign or will it as usual conveniently cover-up and whitewash Rahul Gandhi's colossal failures?" (ANI)