12JUNE2019 STATE OBSERVER
Rahul is Congress president and will remain so, says Surjewala
A meeting of core group of senior Congress leaders was held here on Wednesday to deliberate on an interim arrangement even as Congress president Rahul Gandhi insists on not continuing in the post.The meeting was chaired by senior leader A.K. Antony and was attended by party treasurer Ahmed Patel, former Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh, Maharashtra in-charge Mallikarjun Kharge, chief party spokesperson and communication in-charge Randeep Surjewala and party general secretary K.C. Venugopal.Mr. Surjewala told mediapersons that the meeting was called to discuss the poll preparedness for the coming Assembly polls in four States.“An informal meeting of Congress leaders was held today under the leadership of A.K. Antony. The preparation for four election-linked States — Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir — was discussed,” Mr. Surjewala said.A meeting of the General Secretaries in charge of the States will be called by Mr. Venugopal shortly to take stock of the situation.On the ongoing speculation regarding the setting up of a panel of interim working presidents, Mr. Surjewala said, “Rahul Gandhi was Congress president, is the Congress president and would remain so. We have no doubt about it.”
