Sonia Gandhi meets Sharad Pawar; pre-scheduled meeting with Jyotiraditya Scindia deferred

The meeting between Sonia and Pawar, which went on for around half-an-hour, assumes significance as it comes on a day when Congress screening committee is scheduled to meet over Maharashtra Assembly elections.

A crucial meeting between interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia was deferred on Tuesday. Sonia, however, held a meeting with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in the national capital on Tuesday.

The meeting between Sonia and Pawar, which went on for around half-an-hour, assumes significance as it comes on a day when screening committee is scheduled to meet for the Maharashtra Assembly elections, which is slated to be held later in 2019.

Notably, Scindia was recently chosen to head the Congress screening committee, which comprises five other members, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Balasaheb Thorat and KC Padavi.

The meeting between Sonia Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia was also scheduled in the backdrop of the infighting within the Congress party in Madhya Pradesh. Demands have been growing in the state unit to make Scindia the Madhya Pradesh chief of the Congress party.

Supporters of Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia had recently installed hoardings, demanding that the former Guna MP be made the chief of the Madhya Pradesh unit of the party.

Hoardings campaigning for Scindia were installed at several places across Gwalior. The poster campaign triggered a political row in the state, which is ruled by the Congress party. In the hoardings, the supporters asked Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi to appoint Scindia as party’s state unit chief without succumbing to any pressure.

Amid the reports of infighting, Sonia held a meeting with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Saturday.

Kamal Nath had resigned from the party state chief`s post after the Congress debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, but he has been asked to continue till his replacement is finalised.

News agency IANS reported that the state leadership has sent a list of names of leaders including that of Scindia to Gandhi. The interim Congress chief is yet to take a call on the same.