Rahul Gandhi exits CWC meeting, says was called for J&K discussion

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi, who resigned as Congress president in May, joined the second round of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Saturday night, only to leave almost an hour later on the grounds that he was called in only to take part on a discussion on the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir. He said the discussion over chosing his successor was on even as he had left the meeting.

“I was called by the working committee just now because between the work that they were doing, some reports came that things in Jammu and Kashmir were going very wrong. There are reports of people dying in Jammu and Kashmir, so we stopped our deliberation on the Congress president issue and we had a deliberation on what was going on in Jammu and Kashmir,” he told reporters after leaving from the meeting on Saturday night.

“Now it is very very important that the union government and the Prime Minister make it very clear and transparent as to what is happening in the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. We are concerned about reports that are emerging,” he added.

When asked what was the decision taken in the meeting, Gandhi said the meeting of the CWC was still going on and he was “called only to discuss Jammu and Kashmir” after which he left. This was the second meeting in the day of the CWC. While the meeting began a little before 9PM on Saturday night, Rahul Gandhi arrived more than half an hour later.

The apex decision-making body of the Congress met on Saturday morning at the official headquarters at 24, Akbar Road in the national capital. The day saw swift developments with both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi recusing themselves from the process of appointing a new party chief. This was preceded by the CWC dividing itself in five region-based groups, which included the names of both the Gandhis.

Earlier this week, Parliament had approved a resolution revoking Article 370, which provides for special status to Jammu and Kashmir and also signed off on the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill that splits it into two union territories — Ladakh as well as Jammu and Kashmir.