 "LS elections: Congress to hold deliberations on poll results at CWC meet")
The Congress' top leadership will deliberate on the Lok Sabha election results and chalk out its future strategy at a crucial meeting of the party's working committee on Saturday.
An extended meeting of the party's top decision-making body -- the Congress Working Committee (CWC) -- will be held at Hotel Ashok at 11 am where Congress Legislature Party leaders and Pradesh Congress Committee presidents from various states will analyse its performance and suggest measures to strengthen the organisation.
The party's top brass, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, besides other leaders will participate in the deliberations.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who has convened the meeting, will also host a dinner for all extended CWC members and party MPs at Hotel Ashok.
A meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party comprising all newly-elected MPs of the Lok Sabha and those of the Rajya Sabha will be held in the Central Hall of Parliament at 5:30 pm, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
The Congress has emerged as the second-largest party in the Lok Sabha, improving its tally to 99 from 52 in the 2019 elections.
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This will be the first time that the Congress, since its ouster from power in 2014, will get the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
It failed to get the position in the past 10 years as its tally was below the requisite 10 per cent of total seats in the House, both in 2014 and 2019.
A section within the party strongly feels that former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi should take over as leader of the party and opposition in the Lok Sabha.
The issue is likely to be raised in the meetings of the CWC and the Parliamentary Party.
Gandhi won both the Wayanad and Rae Bareli seats in the elections and will have to decide within 14 days which seat he will hold and which he will vacate.
He will have to make a decision before the oath-taking ceremony, likely to take place next week.
The Congress has emerged as a strong force in Parliament after the elections and the party is looking forward to cornering the government on issues concerning the common people, including price rise and unemployment, in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.