‘My innings could conclude with Bharat Jodo Yatra’: Sonia Gandhi at Congress 85th plenary session

The session, which comes in the backdrop of the Bharat Jodo Yatra that has been touted as a success by the party, is being attended by around 15,000 delegates.

Former Congress President and and party MP Sonia Gandhi on Friday said that her political innings could conclude with the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

"This is a challenging time for Congress & the country as a whole. BJP-RSS has captured and subverted every single institution in the country. It has caused economic ruin by favouring a few businessmen," Sonia Gandhi said during Congress's three-85th plenary session in Raipur.

"Our victories in 2004 and 2009 along with the able leadership of Dr Manmohan Singh gave me personal satisfaction but what gratifies me most is that my innings could conclude with the Bharat Jodo Yatra, a turning point for Congress," the UPA chairperson said.

At the start of the second day of the three-day conclave, the Congress president will release a book and party general secretaries will submit their respective reports.

On the first day of the session, the Congress steering committee unanimously decided not to hold elections to the CWC and authorised the party chief to nominate its members.

The decision was taken at the Kharge-led steering committee meeting which members of the Gandhi family skipped.

Later in the day, the party's subjects committee held its first meeting in which Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were also present soon after they arrived here late Friday afternoon. The meeting saw deliberations on the six resolutions to be adopted at the session.

The plenary session comes at a time when the Congress faces unprecedented challenges electorally and even to its primacy in the Opposition bloc. While the Congress hopes to stitch an anti-BJP front for 2024 polls having said that it alone has the moral and the organizational power to lead it, clouds of disunity are hovering over it.

The Plenary Session is held every few years, and it serves as a forum for the party to discuss and debate various issues related to its policies, strategies, and future direction. During the Plenary Session, party leaders and delegates from across the country gather to discuss and debate various issues and pass resolutions on a range of topics. The session typically includes speeches by party leaders, debates on key issues, and the adoption of resolutions that guide the party's policies and strategies.