File photo of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The death of a Congress ticket seeker forced the party president Sonia Gandhi to call for an unscheduled meeting of her senior colleagues from Madhya Pradesh.
Senior Congress leaders like Digvijaya Singh, Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kanti Lal Bhuriya, all of whom were campaigning in Madhya Pradesh that goes to polls on November 25, cut short their plans for a meeting with the Congress president this evening.
After the meeting that lasted close to an hour, there was yet another round of brainstorming at the Congress headquarters.
The Congress in-charge of Madhya Pradesh, Mohan Prakash, joined the senior leaders for the two-hour long session. "We had a meeting here to discuss our election management," Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is also the campaign chief of the party in the state, told NDTV.
But when specifically asked about the protests by Congress ticket seekers and the tragic suicide, Mr Scindia sidestepped the question. "As I said, we met for election management. For other issues, please ask the General Secretary in-charge."
The suicide of a Congressman today turned out to be a wake-up call for the party which has already declared 217 out of the 230 seats. (
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But the Madhya Pradesh Congress, that's divided into several factions, has seen loud protests, the latest trigger being the party's decision to give a ticket to former Union minister and MP, Suresh Pachauri.
Officially, the Congress has denied the review of tickets, but sources indicate there has been a rethink on a few seats in an attempt to have more acceptable candidates.