Congress leaders meet for day 2 of plenary session in Raipur

The Kharge-led Congress steering committee decided not to hold elections for the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Friday

The Indian National Congress party leaders met on February 25 for the second day of the 85th plenary session at Raipur, where Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former All India Congress Committee chief Sonia Gandhi will address leaders. The three-day conclave has more than 15,000 people in participation and is expected to deliberate upon political, economic and international affairs resolutions.

On the first day of the session, the Congress steering committee decided not to hold elections to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body and authorised the party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to choose new members. There was some split among party members regarding the CWC elections. Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi skipped the meeting. Under the party’s constitution, 12 members of the CWC are elected while the rest are nominated by the party president.

On Saturday, Congress members deliberated on a political resolution concerning the judiciary, which is being constantly threatened by direct and indirect measures. They charged the Union Law Minister Kiren Kiren Rijiju of leading the “blatant attack”.

The session is also expected to include discussions on legislations prohibiting hate crimes and discrimination on the base of religion, caste and gender. On Friday, Mr. Kharge reiterated the demand for a caste-based census, noting it anchors the party’s political resolution. “It’s been three years if you include the preparation time, but there has been no discussion on the census. The Prime Minister and the government are silent on the caste-based census,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said during the session.

However, sources told The Hindu that the committee’s discussion on three resolutions — political, economic and international —veered off into ambiguity and wasn’t sharp in its wordings.

The party is set to discuss a total of six resolutions during the conclave.

The session comes on the heels of Congress’s recently-concluded Bharat Jodo Yatra.