Congress Working Committee to meet tomorrow for condolence session
Nov 26, 2020
New Delhi [India], November 26 : Congress working committee (CWC) is scheduled to meet on Friday via video conferencing to pay tribute to the departed party leaders Ahmed Patel and Tarun Gogoi, sources told ANI on Thursday.
"CWC will meet tomorrow at 11 am through video conferencing to pay tribute to late Ahmed Patel and late Tarun Gogoi," said the sources.
The party lost two veteran leaders within a week, both battling COVID-19 related complications.
A staunch loyalist of the Nehru-Gandhi family, Ahmed Patel was the go-to man in the Congress who kept a low profile but quietly wielded power and meticulously executed decisions of the leadership.
The veteran Congress leader breathed his last in the wee hours of November 25 at a Gurugram hospital, fighting COVID-19 and related complications for over a month.
He served as an effective link between the party and government during the two terms of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) between 2004 and 2014. As political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he had access to leadership that no other leader in the party had and worked the channels to work out various issues.
A popular leader with a grounded style of governance, Tarun Gogoi was the longest-serving Chief Minister of Assam who steered the state through difficult times and pushed it firmly on the path of development. The veteran leader passed away on November 23, in a Guwahati hospital battling post-Covid complications.
Gogoi made his way up in the Congress party from the grassroots, holding several organisational posts and getting elected six times to the Lok Sabha before being elected as the Chief Minister in 2001. He led the party to a record three consecutive electoral victories in Assam, completing 15 years as chief minister in 2016.
