NEW DELHI: A meeting of Congress Lok Sabha MPs called by party president Sonia Gandhi to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and the political situation in the country was dominated by calls for Rahul Gandhi to take over as the party chief on Saturday.
The demand was first raised by party chief whip in Lok Sabha K Suresh and seconded by a majority of MPs who attended the virtual meeting that lasted over three hours, sources said.
Suresh is learnt to have said that Rahul Gandhi, who has been at the forefront of espousing people’s issues during the pandemic, needs to take over the reigns of the Congress at this critical time.
The demands were raised with Rahul Gandhi in attendance at the meeting, even though neither he nor Sonia Gandhi said anything on this issue, the sources said.
Manickam Tagore, Gaurav Gogoi, Anto Antony, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, and some others backed the demand.
Rahul Gandhi resigned as Congress president after the party’s 2019 Lok Sabha poll debacle and Sonia Gandhi was installed as interim chief on August 10 by the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body.
On Saturday, she had convened a meeting with party Lok Sabha MPs to discuss the current political and COVID-19 situation in the country.
According to the sources, the MPs also raised the demands for convening the Monsoon Session of Parliament and how the government was evading parliamentary scrutiny.
The India-China standoff was also raised by many MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, who said the government continues to mislead the country on Chinese incursions and the current situation in Ladakh.
All the MPs demanded restoration of MPLADS funds which have been discontinued due to the pandemic.
The Central Government had earlier suspended the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) for two years in view of huge funds requirement to fight COVID-19. (PTI)
The funds under MPLADS for the next two years will be part of the Central pool to fight the pandemic. (PTI)
