In a major setback to the Congress, the National Students Union of India's (NSUI) national in-charge Ruchi Gupta resigned from the party on Saturday, accusing the party's General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal of delaying the reorganisation of several units and damaging the party. Gupta took to Twitter announcing her resignation from the party.
In the internal national office bearers WhatsApp group, Gupta said: "I have resigned. As you know important organisational changes have remained pending for very long."
She gave the example of the national committee appointment that took one year and three months, while state presidents' orders remained for months.
She also said that many other state units are waiting for reorganisation to make space for new activists.
"These continuing delays by General Secretary (Organisation) are damaging the organisation but in the present circumstances, it is not possible to escalate repeatedly to Congress President (Sonia Gandhi). Thus the situation has become untenable," she said slamming Venugopal.
She also lauded party activists for working during the difficult times of the pandemic. “I want to make sure that your hard work is not lost in the transition and will be sending a write-up on each of you to Rahul (Gandhi) ji," she added. Gupta was also the All India Congress Committee's (AICC) Joint Secretary.
This comes on the same day that Congress president Sonia Gandhi met a group of party leaders who had written to her a few months ago seeking a complete overhaul of the organisation.
The meeting also includes some of Sonia Gandhi's close associates and is the first effort by the Congress leadership with those who raised questions over the leadership.
Those attending the meeting from among the letter-writers are Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, deputy leader of the party in the upper House Anand Sharma, former chief ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan, and MPs Manish Tewari, Vivek Tankha and Shashi Tharoor.
Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath and senior leader P Chidambaram are also part of the meeting, the sources said.
Among Sonia loyalists at the discussion that will include a range of issues, primarily organisational elections, are A K Antony, Ambika Soni, Ashok Gehlot and Harish Rawat, besides Pawan Bansal.
Sources said a number of organisational issues is likely to be discussed at the meeting. The Congress has already decided to hold elections for the post of Congress president and that process is underway.
Sonia Gandhi will be meeting a host of other leaders in the coming days, the sources said.