New Delhi

Sonia Gandhi will continue to be the interim president of the Congress party, party leader Mallikarjun Kharge said on Sunday after the Congress Working Committee meeting to discuss the debacle in the recent assembly elections in five states.  

"Congress interim president Sonia will lead us and will take future steps. We all have faith in her leadership," said Kharge after the party's working committee meeting.

All India Congress Committee Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao said that a detailed discussion was held about the state elections at the CWC meeting.

"She continues to be the president of the party. Detailed discussion was held about the 5 states elections. We discussed how to take things forward and how we prepare for the forthcoming elections," said Rao.

The CWC meeting was being held at the party's 24, Akbar Road office in the national capital.

Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Digvijaya Singh, P Chidambaram, Harish Rawat, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh and KC Venugopal attended the meeting.

Among other top leaders present in the meet were Chhattishgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Shaktisinh Gohil, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Rajiv Shukla, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tewari.

Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and five other senior Congress leaders skipped the meeting.

Former defence minister AK Antony skipped the meeting as he tested positive for COVID-19.

The other leaders who did not attend the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting include party MP A Chella Kumar, former Manipur Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam, Tariq Hameed Karra and G Sanjeeva Reddy.

The results of five assembly polls came as a shock to Congress which was hoping to do well to revive its prospects for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and to fend off the emerging challenge from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Trinamool Congress to replace it as the fulcrum of anti-BJP politics in the country.