"We discussed fighting together," Azad after meeting Sonia Gandhi
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New Delhi : After the party's G-23 dissidents met for a third time following the massive election drubbing, Congress president Sonia Gandhi met with party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday.
It was an ordinary meeting," Azad said, downplaying reports of party discontent. "This may be news to you, but it was just an ordinary meeting," he said.
"The discussion was on how unitedly Congress party can prepare for the upcoming elections. There was no question on leadership. No one had asked Mrs Gandhi to quit in the CWC," he said.
In response to the Gandhi-family loyalists' stance at Sunday's Congress Working Committee meeting, Mr. Azad and other dissidents have held a series of meetings since Wednesday.
Despite repeated losses, the loyalists are determined to maintain the leadership of the Gandhis.
Sonia Gandhi offered to resign from all offices if her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would do so during the last CWC meeting, but party leaders rejected the offer.
Immediately following a string of electoral defeats, the G-23 wrote to Sonia Gandhi requesting a reorganization of the organization. The Congress lost Punjab and is practically out of power in other states as well.
According to the group, the only way forward is to establish a model of inclusive and collective leadership and decision making at all levels. They said they wanted to strengthen Congress, not weaken it.
As part of a broader effort to reach out to the G-23, Sonia Gandhi's meeting was seen as part of her family's outreach to them.
In response to Bhupinder Singh Hooda's attendance at Wednesday's G-23 meeting, Rahul Gandhi reached out to him on Saturday. During the meeting, Mr Hooda requested clarification over who in the party is making decisions, sources say.
Rahul Gandhi told Hooda he would often learn about party decisions from newspapers, stressing the importance of collective decision-making.
Furthermore, Mr Hooda said that the G-23 leaders have not engaged in any "anti-party activities," and that the meeting of the faction was convened after Sonia Gandhi was informed.