Responding to questions by Congress dissenters over who takes decisions in the party, Sonia Gandhi said on Saturday that she was the “full-time and hands-on Congress President”.

“I am, if you will allow me to say so, a full-time and hands-on Congress President,” she said while addressing the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting,  highlighting her leadership on national issues like the farmers’ protests, the provision of aid and relief during the pandemic and atrocities committed on marginalized groups and communities.

The Congress President was responding to questions raised by a group of leaders led by Kapil Sibal over the party’s decision-making process and apprehending that former President Rahul Gandhi is taking all the decisions.

“You are aware that I have been taking them up with the Prime Minister as have Dr. Manmohan Singh and Rahul ji. I have been interacting with like-minded political parties regularly. We have issued joint statements on national issues and coordinated our strategy in Parliament as well,” Sonia Gandhi said in her remarks on Saturday.

In her opening address, she slammed the Congress leaders for speaking to the media.

“I have always appreciated frankness. There is no need to speak to me through the media. So let us all have a free and honest discussion. But what should get communicated outside the four walls of this room is the collective decision of the CWC.”

“… but what should get communicated outside the four walls of this room is the collective decision of the CWC,” she said, in another warning to the ‘G-23’ against leaking decisions to the press.

The CWC is meeting today to finalize the schedule for organizational elections~  a long-standing demand of the ‘G-23’ who, in earlier comments and letters, cited the party’s poor performance in previous Assembly elections and called for sweeping structural changes.

(With IANS inputs)