In first meet after polls, Sonia Gandhi hosts MPs tonight

New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi has called all the MPs and office bearers of the Congress for dinner on Tuesday evening. It will be an informal gathering of party leaders just a day before the Budget session at the Parliament comes to an end. Interestingly, this will be the first time after her illness in August last year that the Congress chief will be informally meeting a large group of Congress leaders. The dinner is will be held in the Parliament House.

As part of tradition, the Congress President hosts dinner for MPs during the Parliament session twice a year. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will also be attending the dinner.

Mrs Gandhi was abroad for some time for a health checkup and she came back after the results of the five Assembly elections were announced, where the Congress got a drubbing in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. After her return, the Congress president has been actively engaging with the party leaders and was also present in the Lok Sabha during the passage of the Finance Bill. She also chaired a few strategy committee meetings of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

After the dismal performance of the grand old party in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand elections, all eyes are now on the Congress President for an organisational rejig of the grand old party. There have been demands from within the Congress that responsibility should be fixed for the poll debacle on all those people actively involved in UP polls.  

Sources have also indicated that a reshuffle is on the cards post the Budget session of Parliament. In the meantime, the Congress is also building an Opposition consensus on several issues.