Ghulam Nabi Azad conveys to Sonia Gandhi broad framework for collective leadership

Revival of the Congress Parliamentary Board (CPB), the most powerful decision-making body before it was junked in the 1990s, and an elected Central Election Committee (CEC) of the party are among the main demands Azad raised during his meeting with Gandhi on Friday, they said.

Also, till a new full-time party president is “elected” this year along with “an election” to Congress Working Committee (CWC), decision-making and appointments in the party should be done through a representative and consultative coordinating mechanism comprising senior leaders, he demanded on behalf of the group.All these demands, it appears, are aimed at checking the current system of Sonia Gandhi, her son and daughter monopolising all decision-making in the company of some handpicked loyalists.

There is a possibility of the change-seekers holding one more meeting and their next plan will be decided on how the Gandhis respond to the demands placed before them by Azad. Before their meeting, Azad and Gandhi had telephonic talks on Thursday after Rahul Gandhi and BS Hooda held a meeting.

The demand for the revival of CPB is significant because this party body used to be the party’s highest decision making mechanism on organisational and Parliament fronts with representation from the “elected members” of CWC, which in turn made the Congress president at best a first among the equals with no unilateral powers.Similarly, the demand to make CEC – the body for finalising selection of Congress candidates and delegates – elected would mean the Congress president plus CPB members, thus limiting the scope of the party chief to indulge in unilateralism through nominated loyalists.Currently, the nominated CEC is headed by Sonia Gandhi, who in turn handpicked the rest of the panel numbers.